Holding up a mirror up to people and creating situations that challenge your comfort zone is one of the central concepts in my art. My work responds and reacts to the world around us: media representations of violence, minority groups in society, and the ugliness and beauty that can be found in the smallest things. In my work, I also articulate my political views, and don’t shy away from showing my identity whether it be my national, feminist, sexual or queer. In exploring these themes, I work across a variety of media: video, painting, photography and installation, which gives me greater freedom in expressing my ideas.

Video is a medium I have often used to observe my immediate surroundings and tell a story. In “Pride”, (2002), I videoed people watching other people. Crowds – what could be an entire community – line the pavement, watching another minority group walk past in a parade. In other video works (Walking on, 2002, Trying, 2003/2017, Curiosity, 2006, In Between, 2016, The People, 2017), I created a narrative by staging a scene, using myself, or actors, as the personae. Similar to Eija-Liisa Ahtila, who uses video as a story-telling medium, my video pieces are on an intimate scale, exploring what could be personal experience and psychological drama. Where her works are lengthier and more technically complex, I have chosen a more pared-down approach to narrative: one camera, simple editing, and a condensed story that are placed in a space.