Sistergirl

In collaboration with Esther Mcgomery and Vanessa Smith
Perth, Australia 2018
© Courtesy the artist. An International Art Space commission for spaced 3: north by southeast. 

 

Olen Sami

In collaboration with Sami, Helsinki 2020

The feminist Wallpaper

Community art project by the artist group Megafån, Heidi Lunabba, Freja Bäckman and Fredrika Biström.
Wallpaper, photography, installations and events.

A political artwork and a intervention in the politics of public space. Travelling around finland we invited anyone defining themselves as feminists to be fhotographed for the Feminist Wallpaper. 800 people turned up to our photostudio. We made a wallpaper of the photographs of feminists and their ovn statements about feminism. The wallpaper was sent out to all the persons participating, We asked to put the wallpaper in return we recieved hundreds of photographs of the wallpaper covering the walls of public and private spaces.

Ei haittaa et kuvat ei mee yhtee

In collaboration with Inari Porkka, Loviisa 2020

Stigma

Heidi Lunabba in collaboration with Anne Pietarinen
 
Who invites cockroaches over for a sleepover? Who wants to go on a date with a monkey or be a rat’s friend?
 
This series of pictures entitled Stigma visualizes different prejudices through animal characters. The pictures create relationships or situations that are common in our culture but that the norms prevent us from having with “the wrong kind of people”. The animal characters are models wearing masks. The main material used for making the masks is second-hand clothes that give the characters a distinctive look.
 
A discriminatory mindset is made possible through dehumanization and grouping, division into us and them, into different groups with different characteristics and behavioral models. Individuals are labeled with the group’s stigma. There are racists but very few of us want to be considered one of them. Most people know what kind of prejudices there are against different groups in society. We may not accept them, but is it possible to not let them influence our perceptions?
 
Stigma is part of a larger project in which Heidi Lunabba, in collaboration with people from outside of the art world and based on their experiences, creates pictures that examine and challenge the norms of society. The Stigma series has been produced in collaboration with Anne Pietarinen who also appears in all the pictures.
 
“My starting point was the idea that we all group our knowledge and experiences. We talk about artists, Christians, women, men, heterosexuals, homosexuals, winners, athletes, losers etc. This is what we do in order to be able to interact with each other. We build concepts and channels through which we perceive the life around us and its phenomena. I believe that this grouping is also sometimes stigmatizing, in which case it turns against people. This is the phenomenon I wanted to address.” This is how Anne describes the starting point for the series of pictures.
 
“During the project I became curious about how universal the characteristics are that we link with different animals. I asked an open question on Facebook and it sparked off a lively discussion as to which animals have different characteristics, while someone stated that people prefer not to link prejudices with a specific group,” Heidi Lunabba says. The difficulty with the theme is to highlight the norm and the prejudice without reinforcing it. “Through the animal characters we are able to access the prejudice itself instead of reinforcing the prejudice by pointing to a specific group. Foxes, rats and snakes can symbolize different things for different people. The pictures are based on the prejudices we think we see in our society,” Lunabba says about the pictures.
 
The exhibition is produced with the support of Svenska Kulturfonden, Kordelin foundation and Konstsamfundet.

Sauna Obscura

Sauna Obscura, floating sauna and camera, Uusikarlepyy 2004

Sauna Obscura

Sauna Obscura, floating sauna, camera, artwork.

Enjoy sauna inside a camera! Sauna Obscura is a floating sauna that at the same time works as a camera obscura. The surrounding landscape is reflected as a living picture on the inside walls of the sauna, the steam and the bodies of the bathers. We are moving on the borderline of person and space, between inner and outer rooms. Sauna Obscura is a mobile artwork by Heidi Lunabba.

Camera and sauna? Camera obscura (lat. dark room) is a box or room that is totally isolated from light. If one makes a tiny hole in the wall of the room, the lightbeams will draw the outer view on the opposite wall. In Sauna Obscura the camera room is a sauna, the bather can follow a moving image of what is outside the sauna. Diving in to the water surrounding the sauna the bather will still be in the sauna as part of the image projected on the wall. Sauna Obscura has visited Uusikarlepyy, Vaasa, Rauma, Tammisaari, Helsiki, Turku, Kirkkonummi and Berlin. It was part of the Turku 2011 European Capital of Culture, since 2017 it is situated in Loviisa Bay, access from Laivasilta guest harbour in Loviisa.

Sauna Obscura on Facebook

 

Say It

The city you inhabit is filled with messages, images and texts that tell you to buy, feel or think something specific. All surfaces where different messages are presented are owned by someone and it’s the owner who decides which messages   get presented. The only surface which is completely yours to decide over is your own body and the clothes you are wearing.

In the ’Say it!’ project I printed T-shirts for people giving them a chance to put forward their own message. I was making the t-shirts in public places for anyone that wanted them. The T-shirts were free of charge and I was photographing the people wearing their text t-shirts.

Because a lot of people wanted the T-shirts, I continued with a Do-It-Yourself version of the project. One could take part in the project by ordering a stencil and black textile color to print up a T-shirt. The stencil and textile color were free. I asked everyone that ordered the stencils to photograph themselves wearing the T-shirt. The photo was to be taken in a public place.