PerViktor Hjalmarsson

Vilma Määttänen

Vilma Määttänen produces pigments from the materials in her surroundings. She collects minerals and plants both from forests and fields and even from the outskirts of cities and wastelands. She has examined several binding mediums in her paintings, such as oil, yolk and beeswax. The cooperation with chickens and bees is part of her artistic practice, the same way as growing plants for her dyestuff. Määttänen’s work plays with the perspective where the position of humans in the center of everything is cracking and faltering. The self produced pigments and binding mediums create material connections back to the soil. Pigments made from plants fade over time due to the effects of light.

In addition to her painting practice, she is part of a long term collaborative sculpture called The Moving Castle, which currently exists in Lohja, Finland. The collaboration deals with questions of improvisational, inclusive ways of being in a place and how that relates to regulations and bureaucracy. The Moving Castle has been a home for humans and smaller animals like mice, birds and insects. As a constantly transforming sculpture, the act of living in it has been part of the artwork, but it also carries a societal dimension. The sculpture is shown in various forms, such as in communication with local building officers, art exhibitions, communal projects, and as a starting point for discussion events.

Määttänen received her master’s degree in Fine Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 2019.