The Harvest Celebration!

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There was a free stretch of wall in the entrance hall of our home, so I claimed it as an extension of my studio. The studio is a good place for making things, but not always a good place for finished work to be seen: there are works in progress, materials, tools and everything else that belongs to making. I arranged different displays in the hall and measured the vitrines until I found a sensible arrangement that even the family could live with. Gradually, it became a place where miniatures could simply be left on display.

Once the space existed, I realised that it would also be a natural place for my husband’s uncle’s miniature cars. It also gave room for the president dioramas made by my father and me, together with the background videos made for them. A demoscope presenting historical costume had already been in the space for a few years.

This became Elonkorjuujuhlaa!, my home collection and exhibition, where I celebrate miniatures, their diversity and the richness of the field. Miniatures can be used for so many things beyond the dollhouse. The exhibition is also a way for me to keep the work people have made safe and visible. The collection has even come to include some old furniture drawings from my family, a small opportunity to preserve and remember their maker.

The name Elonkorjuujuhlaa! is deliberately full of meanings for me. In Finnish, “elo” refers to life and livelihood, and is also part of the word elokuu, August. Elonkorjuu literally means gathering in the harvest. For me, it is about gathering in life, work and what a person leaves behind.

The exhibition took its name and shape in the year following my father’s death. He died in August, elokuu, just as I was preparing photographs of my dolls for Kensington. So Elonkorjuujuhlaa! is also, for me, a celebration of his life.