Day 2


We had beautiful northern lights the other day. I think they were even more magnificent during the night but I fell asleep around 9 in the evening, so this was all I saw. My circadian rhythm is still stuck back in Finland and I'm not at all sure I should try to adjust it to Greenland since I'm not staying here for that long. But it means that I wake up at six AM, the latest and have a really weird burst of tired energy in the morning.


I'm staying at Hotel Nordbo, it's really cozy and lovely. It's also near the art museum, so I have pretty much the same view and I know my way around, so that's nice. There's an orphanage (is there a nicer word for orphanage? It sounds so archaic now) next to me and it first I thought it might be a bit grim but looking at the kids playing and the people working there going about their business, it actually looks pretty homey.


I've gone to the museum to set up my pieces and meet the other artists. I ordered smaller prints because I was afraid of the shipping costs, but I kind of regret it now, they look so small on the walls of the museum. But it can't be helped anymore. I've never been a big fan of setting up exhibitions, at that point I always feel bored and unhappy with my work. To me, they exist so long in a digital form and I look at them on my computer; when they're on print they feel so... limited to me. But it's a part of the process I guess and I'm trying to let that go. I shot a video here during the spring and finally edited it last month, with the video I'm actually quite satisfied with. I like doing videos when they work but editing can such a pain in the ass that I usually avoid doing them. This one went okay, however, and I feel it captured what I wanted to say with it. I'll upload it to Vimeo at some point, when I'm ready to publish it.


Meeting other artists and my old friends here has been nice. Somehow I always end up being more social here than back home, oddly enough. Sometimes I'm really bad at meeting new people but in a new environment, I guess it's a bit different. Plus it's always nice to meet other artists and people working in the cultural field. Somehow we always have some of the same experiences to share. I've even met a few Finns! I heard two people speaking in Finnish on the street yesterday and just had to stop them and ask how they ended up here. They were here for the festival too. It's super odd to hear people talking Finnish here just randomly on the street.

Yesterday I took photos for a dance project my friend is having at the end of this week and that was quite exhilarating too. I also took a small walk around the city, which of course morphed into me climbing up and down the hills again. I forgot how exhausting it can be! Last time I had two months to get used to it, I guess. I really, really need to start exercising more. But at least my Fitbit is happy now.


It's now softly snowing. The air smells and feels like Christmas, I think we have quite similar weather just before Christmas in Oulu. I had two days of really sunny and beautiful waeather so I'm fine with some snow and clouds now. I knew it would happen eventually.

The mornings seem easier for me here. I guess I get really tired towards the evenings and seem to miss my cat a lot then! Of course I miss my boyfriend too but having a cat in the house is just very different from not having a cat in the house. I keep waiting for him to appear from around some corner or think he'll jump on the bed when I'm still half asleep. This morning, in my half awake stupor, I almost called him to come hang out on my stomach, as he often does in the mornings. But then I realized he's not here. So strange.

Today we'll finish up setting up the exhibition and I should go and register for the festival. It starts today, officially, and our exhibition opening is tomorrow. We're also having an artist talk on Thursday, which is making me a little nervous, but luckily there are seven other artists as well so maybe I can just fade into the background.

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