Water Bodies

Artist Noora Sandgren has collected visual materials to create pieces of glass art that shine a spotlight on our invisible co-inhabitants in the ground, air and water – our planet’s microcosm. The pieces were created on Lake Hiidenvesi, in the woods of Helsinki’s Central Park, in Kilpisjärvi, in Tvärminne, on Lake Oulujärvi, and on the islands of Harakka, Örö and Seili in moments of mutual aquatic creation.

In the images produced without a camera, the touch of family members, small creatures, breath and the weather have been imprinted onto light-sensitive material, drawn on by sunlight. The pieces combine traces of pigments from plants and milk, microscope images of phytoplankton and zooplankton, and speculative drawings based on atmospheric microbe samples.

The artist explains her creation: “Creatures of Water is an ode to the tiny powerhouses and the polymorphism that make up each of us. First, cyanobacteria oxygenated the planet, now diatoms allow us to take every other breath that we take. The same planetary water that flows through our bodies connects us all. Floating in the water, we recognise our strength and are renewed as a part of a wider aquatic network. The piece invites us to consider life’s basic elements, connections, and sources of vitality: how do we continue on from each other?”

Noora Sandgren’s (b. 1977) work spans photographic, textual, spatial and event-based pieces. In her art she explores multispecies co-existence and often co-credits the weather, materials and other life forms in her works. She also works on multidisciplinary collaboration projects and is part of the Bioart Society.

The work belongs to the City of Helsinki’s art collection, which is managed and curated by HAM.