Our Place
1.-12.11.2023
Our Place is an exhibition surrounding queer, nomadic, and othered experiences in and around different forms of spatiality. I was interested in how queer people occupy and take up space, but also how one's parallel experiences of queerness and moving around in different countries impact how one moves in between and through different spaces, their sense of self, and their relationships. I was thinking about when one starts to feel at home in a place or country, and how to also feel at home with or as a community; do queer nomadic people feel at home here? Do we feel belonging or non-belonging? How can we create a form of space that allows these experiences? For ourselves and for each other. A large part of this I also feel is how we contextualize ourselves, and perhaps a connecting issue would be how we contextualize ourselves in our current culture, and, as an extension, queer history.
Our Place is accompanied by issue #39 from the Kallio-based zine, Salarakas. In this issue, Presnal interviews the Penthouse Collective (Aliina Kemppainen, Emmi Surwillo, & Venla Tokola) about their recent project in the context of the culture and arts industry, youth agency, activism, and urban culture here in Helsinki. During the opening, Shy Stella (Stella Massa) presents their sound performance using Karelian kantele and experimental sound.
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Gabriella Presnal is an artist who has primarily worked with mediums such as painting, video, sculpture & installation and has also done projects using 360 videos, AR (Augmented Reality), as well as applied fine arts. At the root of many of their works, there is an ongoing conversation with themself on how they exist within dynamics like relationships, spatiality, land, and culture. For example, feeling both at home and alien while living in Finland. Gabriella has recently graduated with a Bachelor in Media & Art from Tampere University of Applied Sciences and is currently studying a Nordic Master in Visual Studies and Art Education from Aalto & Aalborg Universities.