Helsinki Artist Residency 2021: Sarah Hillebrecht
Impressions of the artist Sarah Hillebrecht from her stay in Helsinki 2021
Sarah Hillebrecht was inspired by the many impressions she gathered during her three-month stay in Helsinki and summarizes her experiences as follows:
„I have searched for specific, sculptural impressions and influences, and found others, illustrative, by chance, quite in the happy sense of serendipity. Helsinki has given me a lot of interesting things to work with – I have received it gratefully, and I hope to give some of it back with my work. The sculpture “Suomi” is based on two sources of inspiration: first, a life-size bronze by the Finnish sculptor Walter Runeberg from 1885, and second, the work “Stereotypie” by the contemporary Helsinki illustrator Eero Lampinen. I took some of both works, changed them, and finally translated them into my own language. The result is a wooden sculpture that asks seriously and somewhat ironically at the same time about today’s Finnish identity – without judgment, but full of phantasy.”