Reddish Orange: Ruskie

Heidi Pietarinen´s textile art collection Reddish Orange – Ruskie was exhibited in Gallery Pihatto, Lappeenranta in 2020. The jacquard woven and printed textiles visualize the textiles from her grandparents’ home in Sortavala, an area that was evacuated and ceded to the Soviet Union in 1944. The collection is an imaginary series of textiles because her grandparents took nothing with them when they were evacuated, except a few photographs and a black chair. The layers of the textile collection are constructed from the narratives of three generations. Different materials – living, moving, figurative and symbolic – are combined to create new compositions, in the layering of materials, the past is given new life. The new Reddish Orange textile art collection will be exhibited in Gallery Valo in Rovaniemi in 2022. Although the collection is in the name of one author, the artistic process is not limited to one person.