Exhibition Statement

Between 21.6 - 2.7.23, Emily Laakso & Gabriella Presnal joined together for Midsummer to present the Sticky Fingers exhibition! Sticky Fingers is an exhibition largely inspired by ecological processes and our relationships with them. The title imagines messy things; digging into the dirt with your bare hands, sticky jelly in between your fingers, and feeling just plain gross (can it also be nice to feel gross? What does it feel like to make oneself un-sticky?).

Laakso presents a collection of paintings and a cloth curtain using organic painting mediums and recycled materials; onions, chokeberry, cabbage, tea, and more. Her works are a continuation of her recent undergraduate thesis exploring sustainable painting methods as well as an exploration of the allegories between mental health and landscapes. Presnal presents one painting and two moving image works. The videos build connections between queerness, nomadism, and ideas surrounding spatialities, such as utopias and holey spaces. Questioning; what can we learn of queerness and community from our ecosystems? What are the parallels between ecological biodiversity and queer liberation?

Recolonizing / 2023

Single channel work, 02:20, iPhone

Exhibited in:

  • 2023. Sticky Fingers (Pinni47). Purkutaidetalo, Tampere Finland.

It was inspired by this list by Minna Salami titled 100 Things to recolonize, I was especially inspired by 13. Utopias and 100. Making a place for imagination. Recolonizing instead of decolonizing is making the point that one cannot reverse the effects of colonization, but rather, reclaim and translate. The text came from a task of writing down one's feelings and associations with this list within 5-10 minutes. For me, this resulted in something like a mindmap or bullet point list. I considered having a glossary, but I did not have a glossary when I wrote them down.

So I do not have a glossary in the video. Do I need to be understood and explain my thoughts clearly, or can this string of words explain themselves? There is also the question of does the words I use in this create borders by using specific language and terms - but it is also a question of who is this text and video for. Can it just be for me?

For me to understand and hold? A glossary - it is an explanation for you and also somewhat holds this academic or scientific frame. Does it need to be this way and use these conventions?

Queer Écosystème / 2023

14:16 / Single channel / Archival footage

The work uses archival footage displaying the life processes of bees as well as an aquarium. The sound for the work comprises various environments, atmospheres, and interviews conducted by Presnal. Presnal conducted 30 interviews, ranging from 20-80min of queer nomads from Southern Finland. This video work includes excerpts from 6 of the interviews and they come from Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Singapore, and Vietnam.

“Queer nomads" refers to queer individuals from mixed nationalities, having moved around within multiple countries, and overall international backgrounds. These interview excerpts describe some of the feelings within the queer community, such as stigma and pressure from both outside and inside the queer community, processes of self-discovery, memories, and more.

The use of archival footage related to animals and ecosystems is intended as analogies for how we perceive and build communities. For example, in aquariums, there can be an element of voyeurism when outsiders view queer communities. Even within queer communities, there can be voyeurism from white queers towards queer communities of color. Or the pressure of being perceived and stereotyped by both people within and outside of the community, for example, homophobia, judgment around labels, & sexist objectification.

At the same time, the sea and ocean are symbols of endless discovery, the unknown, freedom, and aquariums can also be forms of rescue; are these elements not also present in queer communities and spaces?