Exhibition review Aura Saarikoski performs autofiction on her t-shirt, mascara and gray scale in her exhibition

Culture|Exhibition review

Modern art

Aura Saarikoski: Gray Mélange 30.1. until the gallery in Hippolyte (Yrjönkatu 8–10). Tue – Fri 12–17, Sat – Sun 12–16.

Aura Saarikoski has saved a photo How to understand that the work you and you are separate, that you are true and the work is not (Argonauts) (2021) Maggie Nelsonin novel Argonauts (2015).

Saarikoski exhibition Gray Mélange, is Nelson’s Argonauts in the spirit it is an autofictive entity that combines autobiography and philosophy.

An autobiographical study of the gray scale Gray Mélange resemble Argonauts in addition to Nelson’s book on emotional shades of blue Blueberries (2009), which in turn borrows in its form Johann Wolfgang von Goethen About color theory (1810).

Gallery T-shirts and photos are on display at Hippolyte. A black-and-white photograph catches the eye on the stern wall Stain on the shirt (tears and mascara in mottled gray) (2021), which depicts a softly undulating t-shirt.

The color gray dominates the space, although not everyday. One of the tiles on the gallery floor seems to have changed to beaded marble. The height of the space is measured by a four-meter canvas print resembling a photographer’s tool, a gray card.

There are eight t-shirts in the middle of the space, on the printed text of which you can read the opening story of the world of the exhibition.

In the story, “A” arrives home from the party. On the way home, she gets a cry of crying and presses against her partner’s chest, leaving a stain mixed with mascara and tears on her t-shirt.

The heart, mascara, crying and the clothing later forgotten in the myth are the symbolic essence of the exhibition. They talk about life, feelings, and shared experiences.

Aura Saarikoski is a multidisciplinary artist. The artist, who is a profiled photographer, is currently studying creative writing at Critical University and is preparing a doctorate in autofiction at Aalto University.

Gréy Melange is not the first time Saarikoski combines photography and autobiographical writing. In 2020, he published a book combining essayism and photography Gray days, where he searched for the center of the fog and wrote about oblivion.

Aura Saarikoski, Stain in a shirt (tears and mascara in melange gray), 2021. Picture: Aura Saarikoski

In the new show, the gray mixes even more. At the same time, the perspective turns from one person to another: has the narrated story shed “A” shed tears, or can a comforter wearing a smeared shirt consider it his own?