Artist – Heta Kuchka
“Portrait of A Young Man,” 2010
AV-arkki
Tallberginkatu 1 / 76
Helsinki, 00180
Finland
T: (358) 50 4356092
E: director@av-arkki.fim
W: www.av-arkki.fi
Finland is a country with few people inhabiting quite a large area of forests and lakes, so everyone is used to having a lot of space around them. Being different is not easy; it is not acceptable to stand out. Finnish men don’t sweet-talk, or say much at all for that matter. At least this is the stereotype. I wonder if the younger generation is different. A hundred young men sit in the sauna squeezed in next to each other, forming a surface of bare skin. The camera is rolling. The viewer will see the individual as the men start reacting to the heat and leave one by one.
Heta Kuchka (b. 1974) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki in 2001 (MFA). Her media is drawing, large-scale photography and video. Kuchka’s subject matter combines autobiography, reality documentation and fiction, bringing up discussions about identity, communication, media and society with a warm and humoristic touch. Her latest projects talked about death and loneliness in western society. Unpredictability and coincidence are essential to her working processes. Kuchka lives and works in Helsinki. She received The Young Artist of the Year award in 2006.