Shelter

Viitahuhta Marja

Aski (Shelter / Suoja) is a video work that deals with the concepts of shelter and belonging. In the video sami musician Ánnámáret holds up a scarf belonging to the national costume of Sámi women, the gákti. It flutters in the air alike a flag. The video repeats a gesture present in several video works created as a collaboration between Viitahuhta and Ánnámáret: the alternation of covering and revealing. The scarf alternately covers the face, alternately reveals it. This gesture is emphasized by the use of layers and cross images in the cut, the overlapping of images. The carrying power of the simple video is Ánnámáret's fixed, inevitable and steady gaze. In addition to Ánnámáret's yoik and Turkka Inkilä's electronic music, the music includes the Japanese shakuhachi flute played by Inkilä and the sounds of the jouhikko (finnish bowed lyre) played by Ilkka Heinonen. The video is part of a series of video works that Viitahuhta has made in collaboration with musicians Ánnámáret, Ilkka Heinonen and Turkka Inkilä. The song heard in the video was recorded for the album Ánnámáret: Nieguid duovdagat.

Production Year
2023
Duration
00:03:18
Tyyppi
Asiasana
Original Title
Aski
English Title

Shelter

Production Countries
Finland
Dialogue
Yes
Sound
Yes
Cast
Marja Viitahuhta (Author), Marja Viitahuhta (Cinematographer), Ánnámáret (Composer), Marja Viitahuhta (Director), Marja Viitahuhta (Editor), Ánnámáret (Producer), Marja Viitahuhta (Script), Ánnámáret (Sound Design), Taiteen edistämiskeskus (Funder), Alfred Kordelinin säätiö (Funder), Sámiráđđi (Funder), Sámi oahpahusguovddáš (Funder), Sámediggi (Funder)
Press Photos
Marja Viitahuhta (formerly Mikkonen) is a Helsinki-based media artist and filmmaker. Her works range from films, performances and installations to photography and collage. She holds a BA degree in performance art from the Turku Polytechnic Arts Academy and an MFA degree from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. She has been awarded internationally at Cannes (Cinéfondation), Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Mediawave and L’Alternativa film festivals. Viitahuhta's recurring themes focus on perception and experience of female protagonists. Her works deconstruct individual identities, memories, or the idealised imagery of nations and landscapes. Her work often speaks in an intimate and personal tone and deals with existence and mortality. The text and image are set in a dialogue in Viitahuhta’s experimental language. Viitahuhta often bases her work on documentary filmmaking, archive material and found images as well as interviews.