A black bird before the others

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

Within the city, an invisible line has been drawn, a thin veil between urban and wild. It is where the dandelion roots grow through the asphalt and pests inhabit our pantries. Beneath the rigid structures, untamed life bubbles.

Urban birds are the inhabitants of this liminal space. To interact with them is to walk on a porous border, to enter the space in-between realms.

Old stories tell us that the dead visit us in the guise of birds. Feeding them is a way of connecting with those who have lived before us, a way of reaching back towards a time that curves backwards.

In September 2023, I started feeding the local crows on my way to work. Offering them seeds was my way of getting closer to life seeping in through the cracks of the city. The birds circling around me were a reminder that the wildness I was looking for was never far away, just buried under the rhythms of everyday life.

A black bird before the others* explores the disconnection from the living environment caused by urban living, and the need to restore the connection with it. The exhibition consists of a series of anthotypes (an old photographic technique based on plant dyes and sunlight exposure), raku ceramics and text.

Liina Aalto-Setälä (b.1990) is a multidisciplinary visual artist from Päijät-Häme, currently based in Helsinki. She holds a Master of Arts degree from Aalto University’s ARTS Photography program. Aalto-Setälä draws the themes of her work from Finnish-Ugric folklore, which she explores from the perspective of the present-day world. In her work, she explores how the relationship to tradition is changing as everything around us changes with the climate crisis. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions all over Finland, as well as in solo exhibitions in Turku, Lahti and Jyväskylä. Her most recent body of work was shown at the Art Realm biennial in Hämeenlinna in the summer of 2024.

Aalto-Setälä is one of the founding members of the Kosminen collective. The collective maintained a gallery space in Helsinki from 2016-2022. She is also part of the Rindamus collective, which explores a long-term residency concept and the theme of returning at the Mustarinda residency over a period of 12 years.

Thank you
The exhibition is supported by the Kone Foundation.
Thank you to Mustarinda Residency for the time, place, presence and the possibility to return.

– Liina Aalto-Setälä

* Translated from the poem Variksen laulu. Alava, Vihtori (collector of the poem), 1894. Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot V1 1138. Keltto, East and North Inkeri.