MIKA KARHUDrawings, photographs and video 3.2.2007 – 25.2.2007

My interest in strong emotional experiences beyond the processing capacity of the mind is the thematic starting point of my exhibition. Unarticulated events and experiences of our life story rise to awareness with their original power and control our chances of directing our lives.

Emotions, regulated by very complex factors, are the awareness of our bodies. The values, the psychodynamic factors and the historical situation prevalent in our living environment mould one ' s awareness and emotions. Emotional development, the process of events and the ability to express them are always tied to environment. Emotions are not processes born on their own.

The system called background emotions is controlled by processes that also regulate life itself. Background emotions are defined by various factors. Culture moulds the way emotions manifest themselves. This interacts with a one ' s ability to produce emotions appropriate to events.

In my work, I have looked for the background factors, with organicity and dependence as their pictorial metaphor. In Female Christ, the figure hanging from the upper part of the pictorial space compares with the tradition of sacrifice and suffering. In a global world, the ability to feel compassion is subject to demands for efficiency. This process, when understood in a wider sense, moulds cultural values where measuring and results form a background factor for evaluating one ' s life. Sometimes these processes, insuperable and unclear, are part of our life and guide it in a rather abstract way.

Mika Karhu