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5. March 2025 – 14. September 2025

Vedessä ja vetten päällä - In and on the water

Exhibition at Kieppi 
Kokkolan luonnontieteellinen museo
Natural History Museum Kokkola

Jaana Erkkilä-Hill, graphics 

Petri Kuljuntausta, sound work 

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Vesi vanhin voitehista, koskenkuohu katsehista
Ei vara venettä kaada
Valuu kuin vesi hanhen selästä
Sataa kaatamalla
Anna Antti ahvenia, Pekka pieniä kaloja

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Water is the oldest of the elements, the roar of the rapids is its voice
Don't tip the boat
It flows like water from a goose's back
It pours down
Give Antti some perch, Pekka some small fish

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Puut purjeina, Jaana Erkkilä-Hill

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Water is an amazing substance. Water carries floats, boats, and ocean liners. Water is heavy when you carry it, and its power sweeps your feet from under you when a big wave hits a wader. An alligator can swim in water, but can it ride on a cloud? A cloud is water vapor, so shouldn't it float or fall to the ground like a stone? Do clouds fall? Raindrops fall or float toward the ground.

Ice is water, and you can walk on it. Small water striders can skim across the surface of the water, but I have not yet managed to walk on water. My feet stubbornly sink through the surface of the water toward the bottom.

Fish live in water. Could they live in clouds? Can a fish catch a cloud?

In pictures, anything is possible. I have been taking pictures with water as a theme for years. Water as an element fascinates and attracts me. I swim in natural waters all year round. In winter, I only stay in the icy hole for a moment, but it gives me strength. Water is therefore often present in one form or another in my works. Water may be invisible, in the roots of trees or in the leaves of plants. Or it may flow as a river, carrying a sleeper along with it.

Kieppi's exhibition Vedessä ja vetten päällä (In Water and on Water) features colourful and black-and-white woodcuts and linocuts. Water is present in all the works, even if it is not immediately apparent.

Jaana Erkkilä-Hill