Inari Sandell: Total Control

My nervous body would like to move; to rock on the spot, hum, tap fingers and toes on the surrounding surfaces. I feel and know that stimming would calm my stressed senses, help me to exist in this space. However, I learned long ago that a body under observation is still, obedient, and takes only the most direct route towards its destination.

The video piece makes use of both surveillance and thermal imaging and is based on the artist’s personal experience of normative exercise of power in a museum space, asking whether all kinds of bodies have safe access to art.

The sound design for the video was created by Jussi Hertz.

Inari Sandell (b. 1991) is a Helsinki-based visual artist who works with image, space and material in a multidisciplinary way. Central to their practice is a personal and research-based engagement with themes related to neurodiversity. Sandell graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts in 2023. Their work has been exhibited internationally at a variety of museums and galleries, including Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, UKS in Oslo, Hafnarborg Centre of Culture and Fine Art in Hafnarfjörður, the Finnish Cultural Institute in New York, and Titanik in Turku.

inarisandell.com

The artist’s work has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation.

In 2025, all exhibitions at the HAM gallery are supported by the Finnish Heritage Agency.