Ii. The artworks of Art Ii Biennale of  Northern Environmental and Scultpture Art are now completed and opened to the public. Seven artists have, together with locals and volunteers been working in the forest along the Ii River, some 30 kilometres north of Oulu.

Tree of Life by Nikolay Fedorov. Photo Kenneth Mikko

Yakut artist Nikolay Fedorovs large wooden sculpture Tree of Life is like a hand, open to the sky. The work is based on traditional Siberian mythology where the world is divided into three – the underworld where the devils dwell, the sky is the home of gods and the Earth’s surface is a place for people and the trees. The Tree of Life is the link between heaven and earth.

Timo Jokela's wooden sculptures. Photo Kenneth Mikko

Timo Jokela is a pioneer of environmental art in northern Finland,  now a professor at the University of Lapland in Rovaniemi. With roots in a village near Kittilä, he shows great respect for people and nature in the north -  tools, buildings, functional design – and combines it with modern, more urban expressions. In Ii, he contributes with a wooden troyka consisting of a giant rake, a boat hull and a compact little building. He is also curator of this year’s Ii-Biennale.

Upside Down by Lena Stenberg. Photo Kenneth Mikko

Swedish Lena Stenberg‘s work Upside Down is a small cottage standing on its roof. Not all people have homes or roofs over their heads, are ideas connected with the installation.

See Me by artist Sanna Koivisto. Photo Kenneth Mikko

Loneliness is the theme of Sanna Koivisto’s work, See Me. White chairs stand in the forest, tied to tree trunks. The strains grow high into the sky, but the trees do not reach each other. Koivisto has herself worked in a nursing home and experienced the importance of having someone to talk to. In our society, loneliness is a common problem.

The other artists are Serge Olivier Fokoua (Cameroon), Ole Wich (Faroe Islands) and Hekla Dögg Jónsdóttir (Iceland).

Info: http://www.artii.fi/