Overview
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Eight people standing side by side in front of yellow and blue paintings in the exhibition room
Story 14 · July 21, 2026

Kiitos, Hämeenlinna

EncounterThought
This story picks up a thread: It is the small things you end up missing most.
Thought

A farewell always has two sides. The joy of seeing my own family again, of sitting on the balcony together, the morning ritual with coffee and cocoa. It is the small things you end up missing most.

On the other side, in these really short two weeks I have met so many people and been received warmly, kindly, with appreciation, personally and openly. I think I have met more new people here in two weeks than in the last two years.

01
“A farewell always has two sides.”
The long table
Laid table with a colourful cloth, bowls and bottles, two people standing behind it in the bright room
Shortly before the evening, the table is laid
Overhead view of platters with cookies, grapes, crackers and small open sandwiches
All homemade, all on the table at once
Platters with light and dark bread, topped pieces and a basket of crispbread on a patterned cloth
Dark bread, light bread, crispbread. Nothing is missing
White bowl with pieces of light bread seen from above on a green patterned cloth
A table you stay seated at
Thought

That is the good thing about an exchange like this. You step out of your comfort zone, you have to open up to other people, places and customs and meet them with an open eye. Only to find afterwards that far more connects us than divides us.

Especially in times like these, when so many people wall themselves off from others and take on totalitarian traits. That has never helped anyone and has brought great suffering over so many people and nations. That is why it matters so damned much to go out into the world, to meet the people who live there, to get into conversation, to eat together, to argue and to share what you have experienced. And suddenly this huge world shrinks down to what counts: being with one another, listening, taking the other person as they are.

02
“You step out of your comfort zone and notice how small the world is.”
Video: pan across the long table with the prints laid out in the bright room
Moving image · 0:11
Trace · All the pictures lie on the table before the guests arrive
Every picture on one table
People standing around a long table with photographs laid out, someone taking a picture in the background
The whole summer spread out on the table
Two women leaning over the photographs laid out and looking at them
Looking, pointing, moving on
View over a shoulder onto two women looking at the pictures on the table
Everyone finds a different favourite
Two women leaning closely over the pictures on the table, colourful paintings in the background
Right up close, something a screen does not allow
Encounter

Getting involved with the most different people: with the quiet and shy ones, with the energetic and captivating ones, with the bird of paradise who does not really fit into any drawer, with the older man who has his own pace and a rich store of experience, with the loner who has been alone all his life and still does not seem sad. The whole range of life, intense and direct.

You are not speaking your mother tongue. Often it is hard to find the right words for what you feel and would like to tell, and still people understand you. Slowly you start dreaming in English, one or two Finnish words suddenly come out right, and the daily paths become more familiar. So much happens to you once you leave your safe space, leave the people you love and set out to discover something new.

03
“The whole range of life, intense and direct.”
The people
Three people standing at the table with the pictures, talking
There is looking and a great deal of talking
Four people around the table with photographs laid out, yellow paintings in the background
Around a table, conversation happens by itself
Several people standing around the table, one explaining something with his hand
Explaining, asking, laughing
Group of women at the table with the pictures, a green patterned dress in front
The evening two weeks of work were leading to
Two women at the table, another person's shoulder blurred in the foreground
And always another picture in your hands
Two women standing in front of colourful paintings, looking at the pictures on the table
Among the works of the other artists
Encounter

This farewell dinner was organised by Minttu, as so much was in these two weeks. A long table, everything homemade, and on the second table all the pictures lay spread out so that everyone could take their time looking. For that I want to thank all the people I was allowed to meet here, who always met me openly and positively, and sometimes a little shyly.

Thank you to Minttu, Terho, Anu, Tuire, Tommi, Heikki, Teemu, Outi, Eeva, Erkki, Timo, Susanna, Lady Misty May, Pekka, Gabriel, Hanna, Rolf, Ville, Sami, Kathri, Janne and Noo.

Geschichte 13: Sie fangen an zu leben ↗Geschichte 09: Die Verbinderin ↗
04
“Thank you to everyone here who met me openly.”
Thought

See you soon in this small and beautiful town, surrounded by so much green and by the water that is your constant companion here, at the river, at the lakes or as rain from above. All that is left for me to say is: kiitos, Hämeenlinna.

Kiitos, Hämeenlinna.“
Last note from the residency
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