A Tale for Tornio

'A Tale for Tornio' was commissioned for a group exhibition. My work related specifically to the theme of the exhibition, which refers to the Inuit word for art as ‘something strange’. I researched Finnish culture and folklore and used a text from the Kalavala. This was recited as I made the objects from the narrated text and enacteAmmMinistry of Education Finlandd the poem as ‘puppet master’ all the while speaking the Finnish text without knowledge of the specific meaning or how to say it. The video was installed with the Kalavala book on a table and the poem was constantly recited and enacted through the duration of the exhibition.

This work relates to my ongoing interest in dialogues of making and the use of repetition and return that is a constant factor of my art practice. This work developed the role and manipulation of language in my practice.

Joanna Greenhill

Research Interests

Sculpture
Dematerialisation
Transience
Repetition
Installation
Drawing

Current Research

My research practice is an investigation of the act of repetition. This is researched through mainly objects and drawings and more recently video and photographic works. My background is in sculpture and the use of objects and materials remains a fundamental influence in my work. The repetitive act is used as a means of revealing and connecting conscious and unconscious thoughts. These thoughts become evident as sound and text works which can co-exist with objects also made through repetitive processes. A current interest is investigating ways of materializing/de-materializing presence and the place of memory in the work of art. These interests have re-introduced an interest from my research degree work in impermanent materials and the role of transience in art. I am currently exploring the implications of transient work and how artists engage with process in the ongoing project Fugitive Materials which was launched at Tate Modern in 2005.

As well as exhibiting individually, I collaborated with other practitioners/writers to make the book Speaking and Making which looks at foregrounding the making of art as research in its own right - the practice of art as a mode of analysis. This approach is particularly suitable for the processes of making that I use.