Pilot Study: “Rakkaustalkoot” (Love Talks) 1.1.2020 – 31.10.2020
Mirja Hiltunen
When Iraqi immigrants Al-Fateh Ali Mousa and Saba Majid were granted asylum in Finland in 2018, they decided to give their local community in Rovaniemi, and the country at large, a gift from their own culture as a token of their appreciation. They proceeded to build a scale model of the Ishtar Gate as a symbol of love for their new home country. The ‘Neighbourhood and Love Talks’ (Rakkaustalkoot) project was built around this gesture. Under the planning and curation of Pieta Koskenniemi, a local animator, live art maker and art educator, it has gone on to show Rovaniemi off as a common home for all its inhabitants.
Al-Fateh Ali Mousa and Saba Majid in front of the gate at the opening ceremony. Photography: Mirja Hiltunen, 2020
Neighbourhood and Love Talks arose from the need for people to engage in meeting with others--a neighbour, an unknown person on the street or a member of our family--with an open mind and without preconceived ideas. Pieta Koskenniemi and her team initially planned to incorporate a number of ‘blind dates’ into the project’s activities, including inviting strangers from Rovaniemi’s neighbourhoods to garden, home and yard parties. However, with the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, the project’s plans for the summer were forced to change. Nevertheless, it still managed to come alive in late summer, when community arts meetings were hosted in public spaces across Rovaniemi, despite the emergency situation still prevailing.
Before the pandemic had emerged, the project had invited different groups to join in exploring the theme of Neighbourhood and Love Talks. The workshops that were organised encompassed the fields of art, culture, health and social care. The operational environment involved art workshops carried out at Lapin Muistyhdistys Ry (the Memory Association of Lapland), a daytime activity centre for the elderly, where students of art education organised four art workshops with 12 elderly women. Rovaniemi Youth Service was also invited to join. All of the artwork was later exhibited in workshops spaces at the Revontuli Shopping Centre, as part of the main activity week in September 2020.
Love Talks activities have included a sticker-making workshop that introduced the world to sticker culture through handmade stickers on the themes of love and acceptance. Another activity was a mural painting workshop with indoor designing and outdoor painting days. Musical and performing arts initiatives included Finnish sledge songs and their Roman musical versions and street dancing workshops under the banner of One Love Jamboree.
Our ambition was to attract participants in equal numbers from the general public, immigrants, elderly people, young adults and people from different backgrounds. The coronavirus pandemic presented many challenges, but shifting from closed workshops to open-access art spaces resulted in the participation of many immigrants and community members.
Before the pandemic had emerged, the project had invited different groups to join in exploring the theme of Neighbourhood and Love Talks. The workshops that were organised encompassed the fields of art, culture, health and social care. The operational environment involved art workshops carried out at Lapin Muistyhdistys Ry (the Memory Association of Lapland), a daytime activity centre for the elderly, where students of art education organised four art workshops with 12 elderly women. Rovaniemi Youth Service was also invited to join. All of the artwork was later exhibited in workshops spaces at the Revontuli Shopping Centre, as part of the main activity week in September 2020.
Love Talks activities have included a sticker-making workshop that introduced the world to sticker culture through handmade stickers on the themes of love and acceptance. Another activity was a mural painting workshop with indoor designing and outdoor painting days. Musical and performing arts initiatives included Finnish sledge songs and their Roman musical versions and street dancing workshops under the banner of One Love Jamboree.
Our ambition was to attract participants in equal numbers from the general public, immigrants, elderly people, young adults and people from different backgrounds. The coronavirus pandemic presented many challenges, but shifting from closed workshops to open-access art spaces resulted in the participation of many immigrants and community members.
The Love Talks activity week, Rovaniemi (31.7-20.9.2020). Photos by Mirja Hiltunen and Maria Huhmarniemi (the last one).
Voice of participants
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Five years ago, I came to Finland, but it really is very hard. For two years I tried, but no-one to help. This thing here in Lapland is a very big problem. Here people don’t like contact with other people (Participant X, male, age 40-46).
When people are made visible, then you can see that there are people who are for example, immigrants. I think it would increase tolerance, in the bigger sphere of town. Because then you see, that okay these people exist and they are doing things here, and they are probably humans as we are (Participant X, male, age 26-30). |
There’s a barrier in Rovaniemi for people to actually join in to these kinds of things. People don’t really see the meaning of this and, going around the shopping centre and telling people what we actually do and telling them that they are welcome to join at any time, a lot of people were confused and surprised and pretty shy about it. So, in general I think there is a big barrier for a lot of people (Participant X, female, age 41-46).
I may look like I’m part but I’ve never felt that. I always feel myself at the margins (Participant X, female, age 36-40). |
So, I think it is really empowering for people, and this is also what I think street art and graffiti is about, that people are reclaiming the space (city) for themselves. And maybe marginalised people are, especially reclaiming the space and having their voice on the walls. For me it is really empowering, but I hope that for the participants as well. It is really empowering that you can make some kind of statement, in a public space (Participant X, male, age 26-30).
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Artists and collaborators
Mirja Hiltunen with Pieta Koskenniemi, artists and coordinators
Al-Fateh Ali Mousa, Maker and activist
Saba Majid, artist / art educator
Juha Mytkäniemi, graffiti artist / art educator
Leena Pukki, mural painter / fine artist
Matti Martiskainen, street dancer / social worker
Miia Kettunen, community artist / bio artist
Hilja Grönfors, folk musician / Roma singer
Minna Siitonen, folk musician / conductor of Rovaniemi city theatre
Video documentation and production-team: Karoliina Räikkönen, Nelli Pentti, Arttu Nieminen
Art education, project students, winter/spring (2019-2020)
Rovaniemi Youth Service
Revontuli Shopping Centre.
Al-Fateh Ali Mousa, Maker and activist
Saba Majid, artist / art educator
Juha Mytkäniemi, graffiti artist / art educator
Leena Pukki, mural painter / fine artist
Matti Martiskainen, street dancer / social worker
Miia Kettunen, community artist / bio artist
Hilja Grönfors, folk musician / Roma singer
Minna Siitonen, folk musician / conductor of Rovaniemi city theatre
Video documentation and production-team: Karoliina Räikkönen, Nelli Pentti, Arttu Nieminen
Art education, project students, winter/spring (2019-2020)
- Lapin Muistiyhdistys ry: Love-workshops (for 12 elderly women): Vilma Länsikallio & Anniina Jokitalo
- Youth work, mural hides etc: Susanna Lehtonen, Sippola Mira, Luokkanen Heidi
Rovaniemi Youth Service
Revontuli Shopping Centre.
Publication
And exhibitions where the experiment has been shown
Hiltunen, M., Koskenniemi, P., & Sarantou, M. (2021). Love Talks and Neighbourhood: Promoting encounters, tolerance and social inclusion by means of art in daily life and the living environment in Finnish Lapland. Malta Review of Educational Research, 15(Supplement Issue), (pp. 97–117). http://www.mreronline.org/issues/supplement-issue-on-socially-engaged-art-and-global-challenges-december-2021/
Huhmarniemi, M. & Hiltunen, M. (Forthcoming). Promotion of de-arctification and pluralism through Arctic art. In S. Miettinen, E. Mikkonen, C. Loschiavo dos Santos & M. Sarantou (Eds.), Artistic Cartography - Exploration to Pluriverse. Routledge.
Sarantou, M., 2021, Love Talks: Integrating foreign residents into the Rovaniemi community. In A. Kárpáti & M. Sarantou, M. (Eds.), Arts-based social interventions: First results of the AMASS testbed (pp. 38–50). University of Lapland. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-270-2
Documents of Socially Engaged Art. Saint James Cavalier, Spazju Kreattiv, Malta, 2021
Huhmarniemi, M. & Hiltunen, M. (Forthcoming). Promotion of de-arctification and pluralism through Arctic art. In S. Miettinen, E. Mikkonen, C. Loschiavo dos Santos & M. Sarantou (Eds.), Artistic Cartography - Exploration to Pluriverse. Routledge.
Sarantou, M., 2021, Love Talks: Integrating foreign residents into the Rovaniemi community. In A. Kárpáti & M. Sarantou, M. (Eds.), Arts-based social interventions: First results of the AMASS testbed (pp. 38–50). University of Lapland. http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-337-270-2
Documents of Socially Engaged Art. Saint James Cavalier, Spazju Kreattiv, Malta, 2021
