by Angela Dimișcă
Everyday is a good day to learn about our emotions. I understood this once again, on Saturday, when I experienced one of my memorable moments here in Nurmes, the exhibition Mina tykkään nyt. There are five different rooms, each one representing an emotion and objects from our daily life have been grouped an integrated into the design, as well as other elements, that together create a full sensory experience to allow feelings exist.
I have seen the room before, in preparation phase, which gave me a very small idea about what it is about. Once I got into the room, I could have identify already some feelings and my creative side was excited to discover new ways of using objects, but I could not connect all the rooms. The name of the exhibition is the same as a book, which came to life in order to better understand our emotions and live more aware of them. The book is written by Eppu Nuotio and the illustrations are made by Liisa Kallio. The tasks from the book and the exhibition are created by Anna Anttonen and Kati Inkala, teachers at The Valve School of Literary Arts for Children from Oulu.
After the first guided tour in Finnish language, more things made sense, but the ”aha” moment came when Anna explained me all in english. The room suddenly turned into a mirror that confronted me with various situations in my life when I felt those emotions. The drafts drawings revealed me moments of intensive pain or loneliness. The silence moment was a good reminder to let the sadness be. The love desk and all the instruments used to figure out what love is about made me laugh and wonder how do I really experience this emotion in my life. The red net was a good image about how I feel trapped when I am angry. The fear corner contains lyrics about what fear means for kids and adults. It made me think what I was afraid about when I was a child and what I am afraid about now, as an adult. Also, it reminded me that we can choose where to put the light. In the end, I chose a color for joy and I enjoyed for a little bit the happiness corner.
Behind the result, it was a whole work of documentation about how kids perceive the feelings and around 20 other artists who contributed in creating this whole experience. The exhibition started in Oulu and Nurmes is the first place that rented and brought it. As a reader you can experience the stories or the poems, as the exhibition and the book were created in the same time.
Lately, in my adult life I learned how important is to be able to name a feeling and to accept it. As a kid I was taught “don’t cry”, “it will pass”, “it’s not good to feel that” and I do not remember any particular moment when somebody told me “I understand how we feel”, or “it’s normal to feel that”. Thus, the exhibition offered me new perspectives about how to look at emotions as an adult, as someone passioned about education or maybe as a future parent.
There were 40 minutes well lived. They contained moments of meditation and reflection, funny ones and creative involvement. I took from there many ideas about how to express the feelings through objects or expressions. My favorite image is the pearl tears. My crying moments will feel way different since now. At the same time, I left with many questions waiting to be answered. What things helped me to overcome the moments of loneliness? What makes me angry? What do I do when I am really scared? What little things that brings me happiness I introduce into my daily routine?
Maybe, I resonated so much with this lovely exhibition because it unfolds right where I experienced a wide spectrum of emotions. Or maybe, it showed me that I feel ready now to have some heavy conversations with myself. A thing is certain. Minä tykkään nyt olla tunteideni ystävä.
If you are from Nurmes or close by, you have the chance to experience this unique exhibition. Until 25th of February, every Saturday you can participate to a guided tour and to discover how feelings can take shape and color. Give yourself this present and you will not regret it.
Hyvärilä Volunteers 