Spring brought new guests to Saari

For the next two months, the artists staying at the residency will include puppet theatre director Anna Brashinskaya (Russia), artist Unski Antti Immonen and drama instructor Väinö Makkonen, poet Daniil Kozlov, painter Mykolé (Lithuania), and writer Lara Palmqvist (USA).

Anna Brashinskaya is a Russian puppet theatre director who lives in Turku. During her residency period, she will write a collection of essays about directing puppet theatre. The collection will include, for example, interviews with the renowned Belorussian puppet theatre director and teacher, Alexey Lelyavsky.

Artist Unski Antti Immonen and drama instructor Väinö Makkonen will work together on the Mustasorsa community art project. At the manor, they will develop a more detailed concept for their project where visual arts and applied theatre will be implemented among Finnish, middle-aged men using methods from visual arts, photography, videography, dance, and theatre.

During his residency, poet and writer Daniil Kozlov will focus on combining poetry, journalism, and autobiographical elements to write a new piece that will examine the alienating social structures produced by society and communities. Kozlov’s work will explore the emergence of marginalisation, otherness and alien identity, and the stories through which people perceive themselves as part of their environment.

Lithuanian painter Mykolé is interested in the Nordic landscape. During her residency period, she intends to examine the Finnish landscape in different places by photographing and drawing and, finally, creating a new series of paintings titled Suomalainen maisema (“Finnish Landscape”).

American writer Lara Palmqvist is also a trained biologist and theologian. At the manor, she will write her new novel All Lines Converge, a multi-layered story about interdependence across species, time, and place. The novel is set in the north, and the story starts in the 1940s and continues to the near future.

Artist Hodhayfa Salih will continue his work at the Saari Residence for one more residency period. Read about his work here.

The Saari Residence’s invited artist Matthew Cowan will continue his work in Mietoinen until the end of April.