Finnish-Norwegian artist duo Eyes as Big as Plates collaborates with the UNESCO North Karelia Biosphere Reserve

Eyes as Big as Plates

Eyes as Big as Plates is the ongoing collaborative project between the Finnish-Norwegian artist duo Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth. Starting out as studying folkloric explanations to natural phenomenons, Eyes as Big as Plates has evolved into a continual search for modern human’s belonging to nature.

With the goal of combining the powers of art, science and activism, the Finnish-Norwegian artist duo Riitta Ikonen and Karoline Hjorth is increasingly portraying people who are actively engaged in the climate emergency discourse, exploring the potential of art to propel actionable system change.

Each image in the series presents a solitary figure in a landscape, dressed in elements from surroundings that indicate neither time nor place. Here nature acts as both content and context: characters literally inhabit the landscape wearing sculptures they create in collaboration with the artists.

The series is produced in collaboration with people from all walks of life. The artist duo has portrayed people in Norway, Finland, France, US, UK, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Sweden, South Korea, Czech Republic, Japan, Senegal, Outer Hebrides, Tasmania, Canada, Germany and Greenland.

Ikonen and Hjorth have collaborated since 2011 on publications and projects including Eyes as Big as Plates (ongoing), The World in London (2012), Time is a ship that never casts anchor (2014–18), Signal, Lights, Connected for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics (2018), TED Talk 2020, and Finnskogen Understories (ongoing). Finnish artist Riitta Ikonen received her MA from the Royal College of Art in 2008. Norwegian photographer, artist and writer Karoline Hjorth received her MA from the University of Westminster (London) in 2009.

Showcasing people of the North Karelia Biosphere Area

Through the collaboration between the artists and the biosphere area there is an aim to showcase the people living in the biosphere area and their relationship to their surrounding environment.

Through the discussions bigger themes of the Biosphere Area are also addressed, such as village life, demographic change in the rural area, forestry, peat production and restoration of peatlands and rivers.

The duo have already published two books “Eyes as Big as Plates” and “Eyes as Big as Plates 2”. Photographs from the biosphere will be featured in the next book. There is also plans to do similar shoots in other biosphere areas – there’s plenty of options as there are currently more than 740 UNESCO biospheres in the world!

Exploring the Biosphere: February 2023 Visit

The collaboration began in February 2023 when the duo visited the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve for the first time. The photo shoots took place in a winter setting. Both are familiar with Lieksa, as Riitta’s family is from Kelvä, and some of the Eyes as Big as Plates works have been photographed around that area.

All the people photographed were asked the same questions: What does it mean to live in a biosphere reserve? What kinds of solutions or ways of life have been found to work here? How are they navigating changes in their region and have they devised solutions that might have a global impact? Based on the interviews, a wearable sculpture was created from natural elements in the immediate surroundings chosen by each collaborator, and the meeting concluded with a portrait in their respective chosen landscapes.

Exploring the Biosphere: September 2023 Visit

The second trip took place in the autumn and the discussions and shoots continued.

During Riitta and Karoline’s artist residency with the North Karelia Biosphere Reserve, they produced new works in collaboration with village chiefs, Olympic skiing champions turned wolf trackers, wetland restoration pioneers, rewilding activists, hunters, peat mining professionals and local entrepreneurs.

Touko- ja kesäkuu 2024: Näyttely Kolin Luontokeskus Ukossa

Syntyneet muotokuvat ja tekstit tulevat olemaan ensimmäistä kertaa esillä Kolin luontokeskus Ukossa 2.5.-27.6.2024.

Näyttelyn avajaisia vietetään 7.5. klo 15-19. Tilaisuudessa on mahdollisuus tutustua valokuvanäyttelyyn, jossa on esillä biosfäärialueella vuonna 2023 kuvattuja teoksia sekä tavata taiteilija Riitta Ikonen.

Avajaisissa esitellään myös uutta kouluyhteistyöprojektia, jossa oppilaat tekevät omia töitä Eyes as Big as Plates -metodilla. Tämä aloite tarjoaa paikallisille lapsille ja nuorille mahdollisuuden keskittyä tärkeisiin ympäristökysymyksiin Pohjois-Karjalassa.

Oppilaat haastattelevat ja kuvaavat henkilöitä, jotka heidän mielestään ansaitsevat alustan tärkeiden asioiden esiin tuomiseen. Rantakylän normaalikoulun ja Kolin koulun oppilaiden töitä tulee esille samanaikaisesti näyttelyn kanssa.

Kolin näyttelyn avajaisissa tiede ja taide kohtaavat Veden taju -tutkimusryhmän ja Pohjois-Karjalan biosfäärialueen kanssa järjestettävässä Veden tajusta toimintaan -keskustelutilaisuudessa. Lämpimästi tervetuloa osallistumaan vuoropuheluun ja tutustumaan näyttelyyn Kolin huipulle!

Tilaisuuden ohjelma:

Klo 15-16 Näyttelyn avajaiset

Klo 16-18 Veden tajusta toimintaan -keskustelutilaisuus yhteistyössä Veden taju -hankkeen kanssa

Klo 18-19 Kuplivaa ja vapaata seurustelua

Näyttelyyn ja avajaisiin on vapaa pääsy.