Vhita Interactive photographic and sound installation. 15 SX70 polaroid photographs. 1 audio loop activated by motion sensor. This site specific installation was created for the Divers Memories exhibition at the Pielisen Museum, Lieksa, Finland during May 1996 in collaboration with Christy Johnson. Site Traditional sauna building in the grounds of the Pielisen Museum (a museum on the Russian border dedicated to the preservation of Karelian history) Image Polaroid photographs showing 15 stages in the development of a bruise on skin. The skin was bruised with a vihta (beech twigs used to stimulate circulation during sauna). Sound One minute sound loop of a woman giving birth. This piece was created in direct response to the site and the sauna as a site for both pleasure and pain. The sauna has a prime place in Finnish culture as a place of cleansing and community. The Finnish sauna experience is accompanied by beating with birch twigs to stimulate the circulation. Whilst this is beneficial for the health, it is also painfull. In past generations the sauna was the only sterile place and as such was used as a place for childbirth. Catalogue available

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