Artist Gallery

Born: 1977 Canada
Finnish/Canadian Visual Artist: Lives and works in Toronto, ON, Canada

Education

University of Windsor, Windsor, ON 2004
Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
Photography, Video and Digital Media
Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto, ON 2000
Associate of the Ontario College of Art and Design (AOCAD)
Photography

Select Exhibitions

nowthenherethere: spaces in between (Solo), Mackenzie Hall: Main Gallery, Windsor, ON, Canada 2004
Segments (2-person), Artspeak Gallery, Windsor, ON, Canada 2004
SOLO (Group), Lebel Gallery, Windsor, ON, Canada 2003
Evaluation (Group), Lebel Gallery, Windsor ON, Canada 2003
Wandering With My Head On The Floor (Invitational/Group), Next Door Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada 2002
Print & Object (Invitational/Group) Praxis Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada 2001
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (Juried/Group), City Hall, Toronto, ON, Canada 2001
Dedications (Invitational/Group), OCAD Atrium Gallery Cafe, Toronto, ON, Canada 2001
20th Annual Juried Show of Fine Arts, (Juried/Group), The Visual Arts Center of Clarington, ON, Canada 2000
FORUM: International Juried Exhibition: Work on Paper (Juried/Group) Pekao Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada 2000
Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (Juried/Group), City Hall, Toronto, ON, Canada 2000
Summer Group Exhibition (Invitational/Group), Pekao Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada 2000
Ext. 22 (Group), Art System, Contact 2000, Toronto, ON, Canada 2000
Bound (Group), OCAD Atrium Gallery Cafe, Contact 2000, Toronto, ON, Canada 2000

Curatorial Projects

Response, Lebel Gallery, Windsor, ON, Canada 2004
Co-curated a juried exhibition of site responsive works focusing on the relationship between the individual
and the building as an architecture, history and location (frontline at the most busy borderline between
the US and Canada).
Souvenir, Lebel Gallery, Windsor, ON, Canada 2003
Co-curated a juried exhibition of photo-based work exploring the photograph as souvenir, keepsake
and memento.

Artist Talks

Artist Talk, Koppelon Koulu Residence (NIFCA), Finland July 26,2004
Artist Talk, Koppelo Koulu Residence (NIFCA), Finland June 30,2004
Artist Talk, University of Windsor, ON, Canada Oct 8, 2003

Residencies

Nordic Institute For Contemporary Art, Finland 2004
Artist in Residence for June and July in Koppelo, Inari, Finland.

Publicatoons / Media

Nordic Institute For Contemporary Art, On-line artist exhibition space
www.nifca.org (under Residencies>Artist Gallery>Finland 2004)
Radio Ivalo, Radio Interview, Ivalo, Finland, July 15, 2004
Inarilainen News Paper, Interview by Marku Arvelin, P12-13, No.28, July 14,2004
UofW Faculty of Social Sciences Journal, Interview , 2004
Room Magazine, Windsor Art: Suvi Kuisma, By Alana Bartol, p7, April 2004
University of Windsor Web Site, Souvenir Proves to be Memorable, 2004
(www.cronus.uwindsor.ca)
The Lance, A Few Hidden Gems, Review of ‘Solo’ By Bill Fowler, Nov. 11, 2003

Awards

Canada Council for the Arts 2004
Travel Grant to attend residency in Finland.
Imperial Tobacco Canada Artistic Development Board 2004
Project Completion and Exhibition Grant
University of Windsor 2004
Summer Research Scholarship
SSHRC: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 2003-04
Graduate Scholarship
University of Windsor 2003-04
Tuition Scholarship
Ontario Arts Council 2002
Emerging Artist Grant

Suvi Kuisma : Artist Statement

Born in Canada to immigrant parents, having dual Finnish-Canadian citizenship, I find myself occupying an interesting space to explore ideas of continuity and rupture as it relates to cultural diaspora. What gets remembered and passed on? What gets forgotten? In my work, I use photography and video, conventions of both still and moving images to explore the tenuous spaces between memory, time and space. There is a blurring of the space between experience and recollection, between physical spaces and the spaces that exists in memory. The gap between the two widens over time, and becomes charged with desire and nostalgia. We can revisit physical locations, however, just as the photograph and referent can never reunite, we cannot return to the places buried in our memories. Before I left Canada to come to the residency in Finland, I took some images of my mother’s ‘kasvisto’. I found it interesting that this collection of plants had been uprooted from the soil in Finland and brought to Canada, just as my parents had been 30 years ago. Being in Finland, the homeland that I have longed for, but which has never actually been my home, makes me think about my connection to this country. I am connected by my parents past, through their stories, their memories. But in coming here now, I am building a new connection, replanting the roots, looking back while moving forward. I used the images from the kasvisto as a starting point. The works I produced are an exploration of the tension between the need to have roots, a history, an origin, and the simultaneous need to transcend and let go of those anchors. Existing in the space between, in a space of continual flux, I try to find a balance.

BIOGRAPHY AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION
ARTWORKS