Visual arts Eija-Liisa Ahtila, who describes “nature as a human figure”, received the largest art prize of the year, Ars Fennica worth 50,000 euros

Finland The largest art award, Ars Fennican will receive this year as a visual artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila.

According to the award, Ahtila has done exemplary work for more than three decades, and he will continue to be one of the most significant artists of our time in his work that is relevant and important to the 21st century.

The Ars Fennica winner was chosen this year by the Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London Hans Ulrich Obrist.

In his arguments, he points out that Ahtila has dealt with a lot of the environment in his work, especially in recent decades.

“In them, the forest, its vegetation and nature are human figures. This connects him Édouard Glissantiin. Ahtila’s works do not only deal with ecology, they evolve into something that Manthia Diawara calls ecology the poetry of poetry, ”Obrist writes.

Ahtila himself calls his art “ecological narrative”.

He says he wanted to be an advocate for the weaker as a young artist 40 years ago, but implementing the principle was not simple.

What became important in reading the dilemma later became a dream in which Ahtila held a large white flower in her hand, which she ate.

“After that, I saw the meaning of art in a different way and how I can make an impact,” says Ahtila.

“Things aren’t always black and white.”

Eija-Liisa Ahtila was Magnus Wallinin as a representative of Finnish visual art in a large traveling exhibition of contemporary European art, which originally opened last year in Berlin.

At the end of November, the exhibition moved to the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The theme of the exhibition was European reality, and in addition to the environment, the works also dealt with democracy, equality and crises.

In Moscow, the patron of the exhibition was the president Vladimir Putinwhich caused confusion in European art circles.

The exhibition was scheduled to be open until the end of next week, but Ahtila was informed last Friday that the exhibition is closed. The gallery’s website states that “due to circumstances beyond the control of Tretyakov’s gallery, the exhibition will close prematurely”.

Ahtila did not attend the opening of the exhibition in Moscow. He says the large exhibition was initially being prepared even before the corona pandemic broke out, and it was not known in which cities it would be displayed.

“The situation is quite different now than it was then,” says Ahtila.

He says he has taken a stand in the past by omitting the opening of his exhibition in Israel and canceling a major exhibition in Hungary.

Ahtila estimates that, the war in Ukraine and its effects will be reflected in his future work.

“Usually things like that have been shown. Species extinction and climate change contributed. ”

He says it is hard to rejoice in the Ars Fennica Award in the current global climate.

“The boy is in the military, too,” he says.

The biennial Ars Fennica prize is worth € 50,000. This year, its recipients were also nominated Jesper Just, Anne-Karin Furunes, Viggo Wallensköld and Magnus Wallin.

The award is shared by the Henna and Pertti Niemistö Fine Arts Foundation.

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