19.3.2025 – 16.4.2025
PUNOS / BOUND
solo exhibition at Gallery Uusi Kipinä
The exhibition at Galleria Uusi Kipinä explores themes within family relationships andintergenerational connections. As a teenager, artist Verna Kovanen acted as both the young caregiver and legal guardian of her father, who suffered from a memory disorder. In her works, she examines what it feels like to shape an identity as the relative of someone with a memory disorder, when the traditional roles between parent and child are constantly changing. "The situation was contradictory. I grieved the loss of connection with my father whilst I felt our bond growing stronger. The interwoven ties between generations brought both security and responsibility," Kovanen reflects.
The family photographs on display bring together different generations. The tension between the seen and unseen in these works can be extended to family relationships more broadly. Can we ever truly see the inner nature of our relatives? Which stories of our lineage remain, and which disappear with those who have passed away? Kovanen is drawn to the moments that families typically choose to capture in photographs and the way these preserved memories continue to live on when viewed later. She has studied inherited family albums—documents of lived experiences.
She has brought material from them into her art, thereby continuing her family’s story. At the centre of the work Punos/Bound is a newborn baby, symbolising life, memory, and the continuation of family lineage. The hands of adults embrace the baby and each other, supporting new life with both gentleness and firmness. In contrast, in Memorabilia, the face of an elderly man is almost invisible, as if wrapped in the veil of the forgotten.
Nature acts as a mirror for the cycle of human life, and in its presence, Kovanen has been able to process her experiences. She collects meaningful and interesting elements from her surroundings through her camera lens. Water, as an element, is both powerful and eternal, yet even the slightest external movement disturbs its stillness and breaks its surface. This quality reflects Kovanen’s experience with her father’s illness—life with him was neither stable nor predictable. In Wishing pond, the water's surface is calm. A group of coins at the bottom of the pond symbolises the human desire to strive for something better. "It is comforting to think that a force greater than us carries our lives forward," Kovanen reflects. This idea brings solace through difficult times. The act of tossing a coin into the pond is a gesture of hope for the paths that lie ahead.
Butterflies have held special meaning for Kovanen since childhood. A butterfly collection hanging on the wall of her childhood home taught her early on that these creatures are unique, peculiarbeings. The insects were preserved in the collection like photographs in a family album. In Ancient Greece, the butterfly symbolised the soul, and during Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) in Mexico, butterflies are believed to be the souls of the departed that return to greet the living. In Kovanen’s art, butterflies act as messengers, creating a connection between the artist and her father. In Messenger, the butterfly is wounded, its wings frayed at the edges. The piece captures the insect on the boundary between life and death, however, despite its damage, the animal still radiates tenderness and strength.
Kovanen has shared that, in the end, what remains strongest in memory after a shared life is love. Despite hardship, people often find hope and a reason to keep moving forward. The bond between us supports and carries us through.
Working alongside the artist and curating this exhibition has been an enriching experience. Theworks form a multidimensional self-portrait of the artist while also offering space for the viewer to pause and reflect on the broader questions of life and relationships. Through this process, I have realised that in the Bound series, Kovanen truly faces her subject matter, which is why her work exudes a profound sense of immediacy and courage.
Text by Emma Valjakka
Art Historian, Co-Curator of the Exhibition
