Imagine your dream reality. What would it look like? Who would be there? Hanna-Katri Eskelinen’s exhibition Sarastus (The Dawn) takes the visitor to an alternative, sustainable future. It leads to a fictional Helsinki in 2031, where people seek safety in community. At the same time, the exhibition asks: how to foster peace in politically turbulent times? The illustrator explores our challenging times, navigating boldly amidst the tensions of the modern world, such as climate anxiety, the rise of the far right, political polarization and climate change denial. Eskelinen’s work opens up space for imagination and collective hope.
The series of works in the exhibition originated during Eskelinen’s master’s studies at Konstfack in Stockholm. The works are partly based on letters in which people described their own dreams of ecotopias.* The anonymous letters opened up perspectives on communal landscapes, the meaning of home and collectively constructed reality, which the illustrator first collected in the form of a zine publication. Now, the ideas are conveyed in a powerful way through the multimedia works in the exhibition.
Exhibition description text: Veera Jalava