Riitta Päiväläinen: River Notes

About

Over the past two decades, Päiväläinen’s unique works have become internationally renowned through their idiosyncratic language and style based upon her deep sense for story-telling, that combines nature and her poetic use of textiles to create a stage where she reenacts a memory of their passing. Essentially, the visual imagery of Päiväläinen’s compositions can be boiled down to two elements: nature, and textiles. The artist’s strongly process-oriented method of weaving together natural landscapes and manmade fabrics reflects an approach both literal and narrative. In the deserted atmospheric vistas she creates, there are lodged intimate stories, told in a language that feels oddly familiar and foreign at once. They evoke a complex range of resonances within the beholder, subtly changing between comfort and protection, and unease and alienation.