Artist-in-residence in January: Anu Suhonen
Visual artist and photographer Anu Suhonen is more interested in similarities than she is in differences between places and cultures. She is curious about the ways people adapt to their habitat, how they react to it, and how they finally settle down.
Suhonen believes that we tend to become blind to certain features of our own familiar environment. This is why, as an artist, a change of scenery every now and then is important for her. Where routines break down, there lies a chance to see differently. Suhonen anticipates that the benefits from working in an artist residency will be multiplied when back in Finland because for a brief moment after homecoming she will be able to view the familiar surroundings like an outsider would.
Anu Suhonen is fascinated by big cities. In her work she examines ideas such as controlled chaos, formation of structures, and experiencing loneliness in the crowds of a metropolis. Making visual notes of her environment, by photographing and filming it, forms the core of her artistic work. She often uses errors, faults, and misunderstandings as her starting point. Besides photography and video she also does installation art.
In addition to her own artistic career Suhonen currently works as Gallery AARNI's exhibition coordinator at the WeeGee Exhibition Centre in Espoo, Finland.
Image:
Anu Suhonen: Untitled (2011), digital print on aluminum
