Kuvan Kevät25 Interview with Mari Mäntynen
Kuva student ambassador, Snowdrop, interviews Kuva master student, Mari, about their Kuvan Kevät exhibition.
Snowdrop: Introduce yourself, what kind of art you make, and your background.
Mari: My name is Mari Mäntynen. I’m finnish visual artist born and grew up in Kerava. I study in the Time & Space department at Kuva right now. I previously completed my bachelor’s degree in photography at Lab University of Applied Sciences. My art is mainly photography and video, where I usually perform with other people. There is a strong element of performativity and exploration of social situations. I am interested in tensions between people, and I believe that this is because, in my personal life, I am very sensitive to other people’s emotions and all kind of tensions in social situations.
Snowdrop: What are you working on for your Kuvan Kevät, and how did you decide what to do?
Mari: For Kuvan Kevät I have worked on two projects: Stranger and Prison guard’s daughter, and they will be seen in the exhibition. Prison guard’s daughter is a large ensemble of photographs and videos, and the exhibition will show one part of it. In this video I meet the prisoners of Kerava prison and we build a human pyramid together. I lived in my father’s employment apartment in the Kerava prison area as a child, so the milieu of the work is the landscape of my childhood. The themes of the work are intertwined with my own personal history. In the Stranger project, I meet people I don’t know in different places and, immediately when we meet, we start taking pictures together and to test our limits together.
Snowdrop: What made you choose Kuva to study in?
Mari: I chose this school for my master’s studies because I had heard a lot of good things about it and admired the work of many alumni. The school’s facilities are also excellent.
Snowdrop: If you didn’t study in Kuva, how does studying in Kuva compare to wherever you studied at first?
Mari: This school is different from my previous places of study in that there are many opportunities to meet professional artists through studio visits. This is great.
Snowdrop: How has the school helped with creating your Kuvan Kevät work?
Mari: I have received a lot of support from the school in transforming the works into physical ones. Making prints and priming the photographs. Also in the technical aspects of the video work and building the screen. We also received a lot of support in writing the texts for the exhibition. You can actually get support almost anywhere you want to ask for it.
Snowdrop: Any advice for current and incoming students?
Mari: You will hear a lot of opinions and ideas from others. That is important and necessary, but I think the most important thing is to be quiet and alone with yourself and do things by listening to your inner self and prioritizing it.
Snowdrop: What will you miss from Kuva?
Mari: The support for everything.
Snowdrop: Summarise Kuva experience in 3 words?
Mari: Difficult, educational and rewarding.
Snowdrop: Any plans on what’s next?
Mari: Next, I still have to write my master’s thesis. But after that, I plan to delve deeper into my projects and my goal is to publish a photography book one day.