Anne-Karin Furunes was nominated as one of the shortlisted Ars Fennica 2021 candidates in August 2021. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Ars Fennica, Finland’s most prestigious art prize, Hämeenlinna Art Museum showcases a selection of the works by the nominees. The winner will be announced on 10 February 2022. The anniversary exhibition runs from 15 October 2021 until 3 April 2022.
“A repeating theme in Anne-Karin Furunes’ art is that of the female character victim to historic events beyond her control. She uses different archives to search for pictures that move her. These small photographs, originally taken for bureaucratic purposes, are enlarged into paintings often over two metres in height. What she discovers in the archives are the human beings behind the historical destinies that they have been subjected to.”
“The technique that Anne-Karin Furunes uses is based on piercing holes of various sizes into canvas or paper by hand. (…) She has developed this technique for about three decades and today masters it to the minutest detail. (…) The picture becomes an event, a moment of communication between the eyes of the portrayed person and the viewer. The layers of historical events disappear as we face the gaze of another human being.”
– Maaretta Jaukkuri
Photo: Petra Kotro