A collection of creative expressions about island life

In the exhibition "The Island and the Sea" you will see a collection of thoughts and creative expressions that reflect how we islanders feel. It is Kökar Municipality and students at Sjöfartsgymnasiet at Ålands yrkesgymnasium who together exhibit at the Nordic Institute on Åland and put a common focus on sustainability and liveability, recycling, life on an island and at sea.

The course Art and Creative Expression is a small part of the course Knowledge in communication and interaction at Sjöfartsgymnasiet. One of the goals of the course is that the students (most are in the 17-18 age group) should be able to identify the importance of cultures and art for well-being. During the course, the students get to express themselves in different ways through art and creative expression. The idea is that students should use cultural and art forms in many ways in their work, and the creation of recycled art is a way of trying to do that.

Over the past year, students have created various sculptures from recycled materials, mainly metal. Each individual sculpture carries a unique story and some of these will be presented at the exhibition. Some of the sculptures focus their thoughts on the pace and life on an island, and how people living on an island feel.

Here is an example of a sculpture story and a work process:

" - The municipal worker" - this is old municipal worker Bosse, he is tired and resting against his faithful shovel… You should not stress as this results in carelessly done work ".

“This sculpture is made of old water pipes, a bucket, a shovel and two chain links. To assemble this, a saw has cut the parts, one has welded them together and the head has been glued. The whole work has taken about six hours. ”

In parallel with these creative expressions, Kökar municipality will invite you to its island and the concept of "livability" (in swedish bobarhet). You will meet a true, positive, interesting and inviting picture of life in the archipelago that does not duck for the negative sides. At Kökar, people would rather talk about livability than sustainability, because the most important thing for the island community is that you can live in the archipelago: that there are jobs, housing, schools, shops and ferries. Being a resident is the prerequisite for being a sustainable society that can protect the nature and the sea we live in.

"- If we are not livable, we are not sustainable." says Christian Pleijel at Kökar municipality.

During the exhibition, the facebook-group Vädervänner also shares some fantastic pictures of nature, of Kökar, the sea and the pace of our wonderful nature.

A warm welcome to the exhibition The Island and the Sea, which opens with a vernissage on December 16th.

Where? Nordic Institute on Åland, Storagatan 9, Mariehamn

When? 16.12.2020 - 20.1.2021, opening 16.12, at 17-19