It was a pretty magical day with the artists at Helsingin yhteislyseo! We first started the session by warming up our minds and bodies. This is something I like to do before I start making art and I was happy that everybody was willing to try and participate. We all stood up and took turns doing different movements to activate ourselves. Shake it out to let it out!
Everybody was very excited to hear that we have friends in China that we will be exchanging art with! As when making new friends, we slowly start by sharing bits and pieces about ourselves. We saw this as a chance to also learn something new about ourselves. First we got into small groups to do some investigation. Our partners would be our mirrors and tell us what they see about us- factual things like how the light flickers against our hair, the color of our eyes, details about our hands, etc. Sometimes taking a close look at something else can also help with how we approach looking at ourselves.
When we started experimenting with the carbon transfer technique it seemed slow going at first because this method does take time to prepare, but once the marks started to come through, everybody got more motivated to make their self-portrait. Everybody had such a different approach and idea to making their self-portrait!
The class wrote a letter for Tian Tian and her artists:
We hope you like our artwork!
The 13 year old artists at Helsingin yhteislyseo in Helsinki, Finland are making and sharing art with the 13 year old artists from Shenzhen Middle School in Shenzhen, China.
In autumn 2017 Dear You project in Kontula is supported by the Museum of Impossible Forms.
