Sini Silveri

Sini Silveri is a poet, non-fiction writer and performance artist who works in Helsinki in the winter and in Pello on the Arctic Circle during the rest of the year. Their studies in environmental history, butoh dance and somatics are integral to their work.

At the Saari Residence, Silveri will study the language of the berry picker. For them, berry picking represents pleasure and northern identity. It is an active, diverse way of existing together with the boglands and forests. For them, berry picking is at the heart of their (summer) body and everyday life.

Their winter body, on the other hand, lives on preserved produce. What fascinates Silveri about berry picking is the versatility and ordinariness of the forest. Although in Finland people’s relationship with the forest is heavily influenced by commercial forests and the forestry sector, which employs 65,000 people, there are still 3.5 million people who go into the forest every year to pick nature’s produce. As well as to physicality, berry picking for Silveri is linked to prose poet Maila Pylkkönen’s 1975 book called Marjamiesnaisen muistiinpanoja (Notes of a Berry Picker). Pylkkönen’s prose poem has given a voice to things considered small: the everyday, animals, nature and children.

During their residency, Silveri will explore the concept of the sphere of life, Pylkkönen’s poetic language, women’s writing and the sensuality of berry picking, while immersing themselves in their personal berry picking archive started in the summer of 2024. By studying Pylkkönen’s texts, they are seeking a common experiential context and parallels in poetry. They look forward to spending time writing at the Saari Residence, observing their winter body and making a berry picking plan for 2025.

Silveri’s debut poem Titaanidisko (Titanium Disco) won the Kalevi Jäntti Award in 2020. In 2023, Khaos Publishing published Silveri’s book of poetry called Haisee kaikkia tuoksuja (Smells of All the Scents). In addition, Silveri has founded the Liha Company, whose latest work was inspired by Marx’s Theses on Feuerbach. In addition to dance and poetry, they have written essays on precarity, affects and contemporary art. Most recently, they have translated Kathy Acker’s New York City 1979 into Finnish and written author Timo K. Mukka’s biography Miltä männystä tuntuu olla mänty. Timo K. Mukan elämä (How Does a Pine Feel Being a Pine: The Life and Times of Timo K. Mukka).