Washed Ashore by a Thought

Visual artist Heini Aho’s Washed Ashore by a Thought is spread among the small pier platforms surrounding Sompasaari in Kalasatama. The artist observed the atmosphere of these platforms, their characteristics, and how people use them at different times of the day and throughout the year. Based on her observations, she created five works suggesting various ways to engage with the landscape. Aho’s imaginative sculptural elements combine with texts she created in collaboration with poet Virpi Vairinen, and which have been sandblasted and engraved in the platforms.

In Breath, a shell holds small objects and is accompanied by an engraved image of bladderwrack and the line, “Ajatus kutsuu luokseen toista” (“A thought invites another”). The pier platform provides a hiding place near the water. Aho noticed that people often stand there alone, watching the sea.

Heat Reaction – The Island of the Eternal Yawn urges: “Tämän kohdan jälkeen voit haukotella” (“After this point, you may yawn”). The two sculptures on the platform indeed stretch open to a yawn. A tiger paw print reminds us of the Siberian tiger that lives in Korkeasaari zoo on the island opposite the platform. According to Aho, this pier platform invites people to enjoy a day off, while it also serves as an empathy exercise: where is the line between catching a yawn and spreading them?

In Elevating, a palm holds a shell. The Finnish line “aallon laella haahka kahlaa vaahto haihtuu aava vaihtuu” (“on the crest of the wave, an eider wades, foam dissipates, a sea change”) plays phonetically and visually with the back-and-forth, up-and-down movement of the sound and the sea waves. The rippling text also recalls the form of the bridges cutting through the view. The open hand and the shell are symbols of hearing and listening to the environment.

Energy Islet – Monument to Carbon Black comprises of the charred remains of logs engraved with the colour code for carbon black (0,0,0) and the words “lempifossiili”, “arkimusta”, and “pilvimaali” (“favourite fossil”, “everyday black”, and “cloud paint”). The coal pile of the opposite power plant was cleared away during the work’s creation process. “The monument approaches the coal pile with warmth and love, considering that coal as a source of energy is being phased out: as a source of energy, it is a fossil. The monument pays tribute to the various shades of black and carbon’s enormous significance for life on Earth,” Aho says.

Little Hylkysaari Island toys with the idea of an urban recycling and lost-and-found station. It refers to the nearby Hylkysaari – Shipwreck Island in English – and the treasures washed up by the sea. The work includes imprints of objects and texts classifying those objects in a way that deviates from the usual scientific logic, such as “invisible ones”, “composed of dots and lines”, “wish-fulfilling”, and “to be thrown”. Little Hylkysaari Island prompts reflection on what is left behind, what is lost, and what is found.

Heini Aho (b. 1979, Turku) combines elements of sculpture, installation, and moving image into works addressing issues of space and perceptions of the environment. In her works, she approaches phenomena, characteristics of material, and immateriality both analytically and intuitively. Her works often include a subtly light-hearted tone; be it a touch of humour, an element of joie de vivre, or an elating feeling of freedom in the face of ordinary matters. Aho graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts in 2015 and the Turku Academy of Arts in 2003. She was awarded the William Thuring Foundation’s main prize in 2016.

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