Kira Leskinen


SNC 2022—2023
In residence at KAI

︎Chilca leaves ︎Sheep wool ︎Colli flower


Kira Leskinen is a Helsinki based visual artist. She works with tufting, woodcut printing and creates images with digital scanning devices. Her interest lies in the field of abstraction and color. Many times through the picture Kira searches for something for which she cannot find words that is often a corporeal emotional experience.

Kira stayed at KAI in Peru for the month of October 2022. She worked with the local wool, getting to know the process behind the material she uses for her tufting pieces with the Pumaqwasi community. The material set the pace of the work, since the process takes time. This gave her the chance to really know all the work behind the material and connect with it in a more profound way.
Read more about the process with the material︎︎︎

Kira was inspired by the colour and intensity of the sunlight in the Sacred Valley. This led her to also work with a digital scanner at the residency. The two different techniques and materials show the adaptation process of Kira in the residency with its environment.




   

“After getting the yarns from the Pumaqwasi community, I winded the skeins of yarn into balls and started to work on three new round punch needle pieces...As the yarn was quite thin, I made small sample pieces first to try out different loop lengths and thicknesses. For the best result I ended up using two threads instead of one. When working on the final pieces, I tried to catch the atmosphere and some of the textures and shapes around the Sacred Valley.

In addition to the punch needle work, I created a series of abstract images with a flatbed scanner by combining paper cut outs and collages with the strong midday sun of the valley. So in the end I worked with two techniques, which gave me very different approaches to the place and theme of adaptation. The punch needle work was more slow and repetitive, while the scanner works were born from the moment – from the sunlight and my intuitive reactions to the prevailing circumstances.”

                            — Kira Leskinen

   


   

   
See the finished artworks at the Observatorium - exhibition in Helsinki ︎︎︎
   


KOYNĒ PROGRAM
Helsinki, Finland︎
info@koyne.org
© 2023

︎︎