Sakari Kannosto: Raiders of the cursed Earth, 2019
In 2019, I was invited to participate in a major exhibition in the Finnish art scene, the Mänttä Art Festival. The theme of the exhibition was the era of humans. I wanted to take a stand and make a large-scale work that would be displayed on several floors using ceramics and steel as material. The theme of my work Raiders of the Cursed Earth is human’s insatiable consumption and the race for profit. Through this body of work, I’m trying to fathom these unreachable and difficult issues, such as the melting of polar regions caused by climate change, the exploitation of arctic regions, as well as the depletion of non-renewable fuels and diminishing resources.
In the series, a small mole figure fights as an underdog against a drilling rig. The miners’ helmets form a spherical structure resembling the COVID-19 virus. I wanted to produce a large-scale series of works that would also warn us about our own actions. The colors in the work are yellow and black, nature’s warning colors.
Although I wrestle with significant and big global problems in the work, there is still humor and fable-like elements. Later, the series inspired several other works, such as the installation Wind in the Willows 2020, where animals act as our teachers in the field of human thoughtlessness.
Captions
- Raiders of the cursed earth, 2019, ceramic, glazing, painted steel, horsehair, 5m x 1.2m x 5m
- From the series Wind in the willows, 2020, ceramic, glazing. Exhibition at Galleria Saskia, Tampere
