Short Q&A with liactuallee about their residency here at Platform.

Q1: What influences your work?

A1: My surroundings, the natural world, and literature. In Vaasa, this has included the forests, the landscape, and the sheep I’ve met.

Q2: Have you noticed something new in your practice during your residency at Platform?

A2: I’ve been actively trying to make more time to be human: to rest, walk, bicycle, eat well, and simply be present. Although it is hard to stop producing when your nervous system is wired towards work work and only work.

Q3: Have you learned something new during your residency?

A3: I’ve learned about berry and mushroom picking, sauna culture, Finnish mythology, Korsnäs sweater techniques, and wet felting. 

I’ve also realised that I am incapable of disconnecting from the politics and upheavals happening back home, and the last three months have been especially potent for thinking about rebellion. 

Q4: What questions or themes are you currently working with?

A4: What does it mean to have access to forests and natural spaces, without the constant threat of  trees being cut down in the name of development? I’m thinking about the privilege of being able to walk and bicycle freely, and how I might bring some of that experience back home.

Q5: How has the change of environment influenced your work?

A5: It has influenced my colour palette, a shift that was already happening but became much more pronounced here. I’ve been drawn to the muted yet magnificent landscape of Ostrobothnia, and to working with more natural, locally connected materials, particularly wool. The slower pace here has also given me more space to observe, experiment, and let the work develop without forcing it.