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Black and White Success Story

Debut author Ivanda Jansone‘s creative path has been full of incidents.

She felt a pull towards art already in her childhood, but the uncertainty associated with being an artist made her hesitate. Instead, she decided to be rational and study graphic design, and later furniture design, but the idea of making art never left her alone.

In 2018 by chance, Jansone took part in a comic course at the Aalto University’s open university, taught by the renowned artist Matti Hagelberg. The experience opened up a view to the world of comic art, and got Jansone back to drawing.

Then the pandemic struck, and Jansone was laid off from her graphic designer job.

“Getting fired crushed my ego, and everything came to a halt. I heard my own voice for the first time and understood who I am, and what I want. Comics were the only thing that interested me at that moment. I decided to focus on making art and see where the path takes me”, she says.

Captivating debut

Jansone’s debut book, Mustavalkoinen mestariteos (Black and White Masterpiece), was released last year. The book got a raving review in the main Finnish newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, which brought it to the public’s attention and made it one of the most reserved books in the library.

Taideteoksia ja kyniä pöydällä

It came as a complete surprise to Jansone.

“The work was very personal. It was about exploring myself, art, and new techniques. I didn’t expect or even think about getting reviews. The feedback felt nice though, and it gave me confidence in my work, and trust that I am on the right path”, she says.

The vibe in Jansone’s illustrations is surreal, a result of her playing with many levels of reality and observations. Wordless comics that rely solely on images are her favourites. She prefers leaving the story open in order to allow the reader participate in its narration.

“Working on comics requires a lot of planning, and I like planning. It is interesting to build an ambience and environment for a story out of nothing. I’m also interested in time. If a single image, painting, or a photograph captures a moment, in comics the moment is continuous”, Jansone says.

Residency brought back memories

Jansone, who moved from Latvia to Finland in 2008, has started working on her next comic book, which explores memories and secrets stemming from her childhood in the former Soviet Union.

Old Soviet-era objects, such as a vinyl player, animal masks made of paper mache, an orange jug, an old alarm clock, and a little Cheburashka toy, become images and stories in Jansone’s hands.

Last autumn, Jansone spent two months working at the NART residency in Narva, supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. The Estonian city is located a stone’s throw away from the Russian border, and it’s stagnant atmosphere suited the theme of her on-going project.

While in the residency, Jansone was expecting her first child, which helped bring back even more memories of her own childhood.

“The time I spent in Narva was very emotional. I turned inward because I felt the need to spend a lot of time by myself. It was wonderful to delve deep into the past and relive the memories of my childhood. Being in the old, quiet residency building in the evenings when all the doors were shut made me feel like I was in a movie set”, Jansone says.

New forms of comics

Jansone is currently on parental leave but new ideas for art and comics are already brewing in her mind. In the near future, Jansone plans to complete the book she started at the NART residency, and graduate from the Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts with a master’s degree.

Printmaking, and especially gravure printing, is the next natural step for Jansone, who wants to bring her comics to a larger scale, and take them to new environments, such as gallery walls.

Mustavalkoinen surrealistinen piirustus käsistä
The vibe in Jansone’s illustrations is surreal, a result of her playing with many levels of reality and observations.

“There are many talented comic artists in Finland, and I wonder why comics remain at the subculture level, it can hard to even find them in bookstores. Also, comics can be more than books. I would like the interest in comics to start from a gallery”, she says.

Comic artist Ivanda Jansone received a residency grant in 2023. She worked for two months at NART Residency in Narva in the autumn of 2023.

Grants for foreign residencies awarded to eight artists

The Cultural Foundation’s residency programme currently includes eight destinations in seven countries, but due to Covid-related exceptional circumstances, not all the residencies were available for application.

The Triangle residence in New York has been receiving artists via the Finnish Cultural Foundation since 2019. In 2023, it will host Sari Palosaari, whose residency was delayed from 2020, and this autumn’s successful applicant, Sauli Sirviö.

Vaaleahiuksinen nainen harmaassa hupparissa, selfie-kuva

Artist Liinu Grönlund.

“During the residency, I will be focusing on field work, recording the deterioration of infrastructure and the ghosts arising from lost locations and spaces. I gather discarded materials from the edges of the city and turn them into sculptures, which will be documented for a future publication,” Sirviö says.

Artist Liinu Grönlund will be going to Denmark, to the Fabrikken residency, to find some peace and quiet in which to ponder her work and activities.

Tummahiuksinen, silmälasipäinen nainen hymyilee kameralle

Literary Translator Anna-Leea Häkli. Photo: Anna Lannemo

“During the residency period I plan to look at photographic materials I have previously amassed together with natural scientists, as well as taking more nature photographs in Denmark, while developing a new essayistic work. I may collaborate with local researchers. I am particularly interested in visiting the Vaddensee tidal shore,” Grönlund states, excitedly.

Fabrikken will also be visited by visual artist Jonna Kina, while comic artist Ivande Jansone and photographer Saara Tuominen will have stays at NART in Narva, Estonia. Visual artist Felicia Honkasalo will undertake a residency at SeMA Nanji in Seoul, South Korea, and filmmaker and photographer Marko Vuorinen in Tokyo Arts and Space residency in Japan.

This time, the longest distance for a residency will be travelled by literary translator Anna-Leea Häkli, who will go to Argentina to translate a novel set in Buenos Aires, due for publication in spring 2024.

“During my residency period I plan to read as much Argentinian contemporary literature as I can, and I also hope to meet local authors. I am interested in the colourful history of Buenos Aires as well as in the local spoken language, which features prominently in the book I am translating.”

The artists for the residency programme are selected through a two-stage evaluation process, in which the residency makes the final choice based on a shortlist curated by the Cultural Foundation. The programme is being developed in collaboration with HIAP (the Helsinki International Artist Programme).

 

The working grant for the Cultural Foundation’s residencies is EUR 7,000 per three-month period. Additionally, the grantee receives EUR 500–1,000 in travel aid. The Cultural Foundation encourages its residency artists to choose the most climate-friendly forms of travel.

 

Experiencing human sound

Human relations, familiarity versus strangeness, localness, and everyday culture are themes that turn into immersive sound installations in the hands of Jaakko Autio. He wants to take his art among people, which is where it originates from.

Autio spent a big part of his childhood in Senegal, Africa, where his family moved to because of his parents’ work. That’s where Autio learned what the local saying “I am because you are” means.

– In Senegal everything is about mutual relations, and the idea of privacy differs from the western one. I got to know local music and culture that has been refined throughout centuries, and which brings people together. I witnessed how important it is to throw oneself out there and to become visible, he says.

When Autio was 11 years old, the family moved to Ylivieska, a town of about 15 000 inhabitants in the Northern Ostrobothnia region in Finland. Autio found it hard to adapt. He had never worn socks or brushed his hair and spoke Finnish with a French accent. Now Autio thinks that his sense of foreignness has turned into a strength, which he taps into when making art.

– If you move from Senegal to Yliveiska when you are eleven years old, you have no other option but to try and figure out how you can discover a meaningful life. My destiny was to become a citizen of two countries, and because of it I now find it easy to travel. I have learned to recognise when the fear comes from within, when to let go and when not, he says.

Art maker and social anthropologist

Äänitaiteilija Jaakko Autio

Autio worked in theatre before he started to make art on his own terms. As a sound artist he considers himself to be a storyteller and a people gatherer. Autio rarely makes himself seen but prefers using other people’s voices in his installations.

– I’m like a social anthropologist who spots something precious in the existing culture and makes it visible. It was my parents’ job to solve everyday problems; I’m interested in what happens when the basic needs are met. I’m feel better and drift less when I take this opportunity, he says.

While sound is Autio’s preferred art form, he likes to include visual elements in his installations. In the As Time Sounds II installation, which was exhibited at the Mikkeli Art Museum during the summer of 2021, sounds created by Autio made geometric shapes on the surface of water. The speakers, which almost resemble human figures, bring a humane touch to whatever space he uses.

Reflecting his identity in Narva

Autio is currently in Estonia at the Narva Art Residency for three months, funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s artist in residence programme. It came to him as a surprise that up to 96 % of the locals speak Russian as their mother tongue. The Baroque style Narva was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War bombings, and the new, Soviet style city was built in place. The Estonian population was substituted with Russians.

Autio has plans for at least five new artworks this year. In Narva he is preparing a sound installation titled Where we are, which he will create together with local choirs. It will be exhibited at the Narva Art Residency this summer, and at the Kogo gallery in Tartu during the autumn of 2022.

– Here I’ve been able to reflect my identity with the local people who find the question of homeland difficult. The new installation is loosely based on the Finnish national anthem, which is melodically almost identical with the Estonian one. I intend to create an aesthetic experience, which for just a moment allows us to recognize and remember a world not marked by hostility and conflicts, Autio says.

The August Round of Applications has started

The purpose of the mobility grant is to enable artists and critics to spend time abroad to discover new tools and networks that support their art practise. Individual artist, critics, working groups as well as registered organisations such as associations from any field of art are eligible to apply for a Mobility grant.

Mobility grants may be sought for expenses ranging from EUR 2,000 to EUR 10,000. Acceptable uses of the grant include e.g. residency costs, participation in a festival, exhibition project or international collaboration. It is not possible to apply for both a working grant and an expenditure grant in the same application; working must be funded by other means. Even though travelling is still restricted in many ways, grants are worth applying for, as the rules for using the grants are flexible.

The Cultural Foundation is favourably disposed towards higher travel costs due to the journey taking place in a way that pollutes the climate and the environment as little as possible. In addition to direct travel costs, the grant may also be used to offset emissions that your form of travel produces.

The COVID-19 situation presents some changes to the residency program of the Foundation. There are two brand new residencies open for application, Fabrikken Art Center in Copenhagen and NART in Estonia. They both offer two three-month working grants. For Triangle residency in New York the Finnish Cultural Foundation offers one working grant for three months. All three programs are targeted at visual artists.

In the August Round of Applications, you may apply either for a residency offered by the Finnish Cultural Foundation or for a mobility grant, not both.

More information on August Round is available here.