This week my painting Syria Beheaded will be exhibited at Love & Anarchy - the 29th Helsinki International Film Festival. It's the apt context for the work which is a poster of a fictional movie.

Several years ago, I got interested in the famous Ghanaian hand painted film posters and later I got an idea of a series of history paintings, posters of fictional films of important events after the Cold War. I've been trying to find funding for the project during a couple of years but without success and finally I decided to make one. If I sell this work, I'll invest all the profit in the larger series.

Production team

Painters: Annang Nortey and Eric Sojay 

Graphic designer: Niina Rinne

Producer in Ghana: Gudrun F. Widlok

I've been working with the border theme the past days after my trip to North Africa. I begin to know almost everything about razor tapes and concertina wires.

The Spanish company European Security Fencing has provided the razors for the border fortresses of the Spanish exclaves Ceuta and Melilla but also for the Hungarian fence at their Serbian border. The ESF CEO says that the blades are not aimed to hurt anyone but just to cause psychological and visual impact. Many immigrants and refugees have been seriously injured by the border fences.

Concertina is a type of razor wire  that is formed in large coils which can be expanded like a concertina, which is a accordion like musical instrument. The concertina wire (Model 22 of European Security Fencing) plays the Anthem of the European Union, Ode to Joy.

All men become brothers

Where your tender wing lingers.

Be embraced, millions!

This kiss to the entire world!

Brothers, above the starry canopy

Must a loving Father reside.

(…)

Happy, as his suns fly

Across Heaven's splendid map,

Run, brothers, along your path

Joyfully, as a hero to victory.

(…)

Endure courageously, millions!

Endure for the better world!

There above the starry canopy

A great God will reward.

(...) 

Escape the tyrants’ chains,

Generosity also to the villain,

Hope upon the deathbeds,

Mercy from the high court!

The dead, too, shall live!

Brothers, drink and chime in,

All sinners shall be forgiven,

And hell shall be no more.

Yesterday, I came back - exhausted physically, emotionally and intellectually - from the Border Field Trip that took Serlachius Museum's director Pauli and me to the southern frontiers of Europe(an Union). In one week we crossed by foot borders between La Linea (ES) and Gibraltar (GB), Ceuta (ES) and Fnidaq (MA), Melilla (ES) and Nador (MA), and took a ferry from Tarifa (ES) to Tangier (MA).

A brief list of things we saw and experienced:

- A circus organized by an NGO outside of a Spanish immigrant reception center.

- Sub-Saharian immigrants hiding in Moroccan forests and coming to beg and prostitute themselves by a road.

- Moroccan military camps by the border and in forests were the migrants hide.

- A Spanish neighborhood controlled by drug lords and where the law enforcement forces rarely venture. Our fixer had to repeat constantly that we weren't cops. Finally we were received by an imam in a mosque.

- Moroccan police interrogating us why we visit non-tourist areas and wander by the border.

- Kilometers of both barbed wire and sophisticated triple separation fences strengthened with watch towers and all possible up-to-date vigilance technology.

- A Moroccan town purged of immigrants because the king was vacationing in his summer palace in the area.

- Spanish police interrogated us why we wanted to see the border structure and movement too close.

- A Moroccan police check-point next to hashish fields.

- Endless lines of people trying to cross borders.

- The last public statue of Generalissimo Francisco Franco.

Improvisation is the process of devising a solution to a requirement by making-do, despite absence of resources that might be expected to produce a solution. This can mean adapting something for some use other than that which it was designed for, or building something from unusual components in an ad-hoc fashion.

This week, I'm improvising at Ti-la, Jyväskylä. Ti-la is a series of 52 solo shows during 2016. My project is called Summer Job, I drive here every morning from our summer cottage located 20km from the town.

I'm a very organized artist - I have several shows next winter, they've been perfectly planned and most of the works are ready and some of them have been already shipped. However, I find it amusing and fresh to work with a different attitude. Things don't have to be perfect, anything goes. This is the purest way of making art - the quality is in the ideas, not in the execution and materials.

I ordered, cleaned, fumigated and painted the studio. Then I started the summer vacation. The first thing when I arrived home was to draw. It just felt so easy and carefree when done on holiday.

Next week we fly to our summer cottage located by a lake near Jyväskylä, Finland. I love relaxing there, just reading and going to sauna but I know myself and the fact that too easy life drives me soon crazy, I need professional activities.

9-13 August, I'll do a week-long project at Ti-la (Jyväskylä), which is an ambitious project by Anna and Juho - they organize during this year 52 solo shows of Finnish artists. Initially I had several real exhibition ideas but finally I decided that I'm going to try something I wouldn't do in normal circumstances. I'm going to improvise. I begin to work on Monday and I hope that I have some works to show before Saturday. I've added another challenge in the game too - no money can be used in the materials. The project might a total failure but it's also my opportunity to show that I'm a true genius.