Harriina Räinä: The Other as Matter

Woodblock printing developed in East Asia is considered the oldest printmaking method in the world. In the West, water-based woodblock printing has become popular as a non-toxic and ecological printmaking technique in recent decades.

The Other as Matter exhibition examines material of animal origin, which is exceptionally prevalent in watercolour woodblock printing: the technique employs black sumi ink made from animal glue and soot, white pigment made from the shell of the endangered Itabo oyster, print papers glued with animal glue as well as brushes made by hand from horse, goat and deer hair. The collection of works approaches the materials as dynamic meanings and as the force behind the works of art. The exhibition examines the power and responsibility of the artist in terms of other species and the tensions between a technique that is hundreds of years old and the ecological crisis.

The speech related to the exhibition given by the artist at the international Sumi-Fusion watercolour woodblock printmaking conference in Nara, Japan, in 2021 is available for reading in the exhibition space and online.

Harriina Räinä (b. 1989) is an artist working in Helsinki. Her artistic practice is centred around the nature of matter, corporeality, power relations and the question of the animal. Harriina creates diverse works in printed art, sculpture, lens-based media and text. Harriina holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Printmaking subject area in the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki (2019). She completed some of her studies in Japan: she participated in a graduate exchange programme at the University of Tsukuba (2017) and completed a practical training in a woodblock printing studio in Kyoto (2018).

The exhibition and the artist have received support from the Kone Foundation and Arts Promotion Centre Finland.