Riikka Kuoppala
Finnish Academy Of Fine Art, Time And Space
I am interested in narratives. Narratives give us shape. They help us tell who we are, to ourselves and others. Identity is a multi-levelled, layered narrative. Finding out how it is incomplete and filled with gaps is more interesting to me than searching for a whole truth. I often found myself looking for answers to these questions: how can one present and represent oneself? What is one allowed to be like? What part do different roles play in constructing an identity? My recent works have dealt with topics such as gender, family and sickness, and how these relate to the society and our social status. In my work I mostly use photography and moving image because of their direct relationship with the world. That relationship makes them natural media for creating narratives. I am also very interested in creating site-specific work.