At the end of the loop is the magnificent fallen trees
170x220cm, acrylic on canvas
2016
Maculas
40x40cm, oil on canvas
2017
Gorge
118x118cm, acrylic on canvas
2016
Arenaria norvegica
102x83cm, acrylic on canvas
2017
Glacier Buttercups and Mountain Sorrel
62,5x59cm, Ink and oil on canvas
2017
Chains
130x120cm, acrylic and oil on canvas
2017
Two lynx
150x190cm, acrylic and oil on canvas
2016
Skimba5
120x120cm, acrylic and oil on canvas
2016
Jeanne d ` Arc
185x165cm, acrylic and oil on canvas
2016
Skimba3
65x65cm, oil on canvas
2016
Scholars
140x170cm, acrylic on canvas
2016
Boxes
138x115cm, oil on canvas
2016
Binoculars
50x80cm, oil on canvas
2016
Minuartia stricta
100x80cm, acrylic on canvas
2017
Mosquito
170x140cm, acrylic on canvas
2016
Carcase
65x65cm, oil on canvas
2016
Spillings
170x140cm, acrylic and oil on canvas
2016
Slalom
65x65cm, acrylic on canvas
2017
Skimba
120x130cm, oil on canvas
2016
Beam of Life
8 April - 29 May 2016
Oulu Art Museum
Oulu, Finland
Hanna Kanto gets inspired by the rugged landscape and the traditional culture of her northern homeland. She keep the minimalistic and inhospitable northern landscape and its people as a reference point for her art. The thematic arc of her art is supported by a concern about the disappearance of a unique cultural environment. Even though certain nostalgia and sorrow is present, the paintings are above all elegiac shots of the northern landscape and its original and rich cultural heritage. Kanto also explores and studies herself inside the landscape, how it is to live and dwell as a woman in the North.
Moreover, in her expression you can find numerous references to explorers who arrived in the northern parts of Finland and Sweden throughout the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. To give few examples: Maupertuis and Louis Philippe during the 18th Century, the La Recherché-expedition during the 19th Century and Kaarina Kari during the 20th Century. Their journeys to the North were explorations of nature and life itself which unveiled new findings. In Kanto`s artistic work she assumes a position of an explorer and adapt their methodology.
Kanto`s body of work consists mainly of acrylic and oil paintings, but when the topic requests it, she builds installations and produce video art around the theme. She uses the medium of painting both in a diversified and experimental way.