linnaea borealis – in English

You may read about the work in Finnish here.

linnaea borealis (2025)

Rauma Triennale 2025 international contemporary art exhibition, Rauma Art Museum.
Exhibition theme: Enchanting Effort. Curated by Sanna Karimäki-Nuutinen.

Teoksen lähtökohta

Linnaea borealis is my text-based piece, focusing on the study of local crip writing and accessibility as a form of textual diversity.

In this work, I discuss both real and fictional history of the plant ramparuoho (‘crip grass‘), which is one of the Finnish names for the plant known as twin flower. I explore ramparuoho as a mythological creature, and ask: what forms can accessibility take as an aesthetic?

Execution

The work was presented in three formats:

As a text installation on walls and windows (lettering tape).

As an audio recording (16 min 37 s), which could be listened by the museum’s headphones or via a QR code.

As a printout that could be read in the exhibition space.

Part of a collaboration

My work was part of a dialogue between two works on crip art with visual artist Hele Okkonen. Questions on twin flower brought us together: how to describe and name ramparuoho? And what does the plant tell us? What does it tell about ourselves?

My textual and typographical piece brought down myths about disability using the ramp writing methods I developed, approaching access through multimedial art.
Okkonen’s kinetic rya piece featured a dialogue between the slow, repetitive rya-making practice and the sprawling strands of ramparuoho.
Together, we built a shared exhibition space where text and textile art engaged in dialogue and told the story of rampic grass.