Imagining Godzilla

My trip started in Turku, where I took a two-hour ferry to Seili Island. This provided a smooth start to the upcoming Godzilla trip and the adventures ahead. On the ferry, I also met Rachael Allain, a co-artist from the UK who was also taking part in the Godzilla project. At Seili, we participated in Herring Day, co-organized by the Archipelago Research Institute and CAA Contemporary Art Archipelago. During the event, we learned about the extensive research on herrings that…

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The first scientific illustration of prehistoric times was painted 2 centuries ago. This watercolor represents an aquarium-like view of an epic battle between different dinosaur-like marine species living 200 millions years ago. Looking at it gives you an impression that competition and Jurassic Park aesthetics are inherent features of planet Earth. But dinosaurs were not the first creatures inhabiting our planet. Much earlier, there were cyanobacteria, the inventors of photosynthesis. They kick-started life on Earth and filled the atmosphere with…

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When I was little, we had a book called ‘Masterpieces of Russian Painting’, which I loved to look through. On our first day on the boat, when we went out to the open sea, I couldn’t understand for a long time what this situation, which was so new to me, reminded me of. And then I realised that I was inside a painting. A painting from my childhood, from that very book. It was called ‘In the Blue Expanse’, and…

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Godzilla I was always afraid of water. Sometimes I have nightmares about drowning. In this repetitive dream, I’m trying to stay on the surface, floating on something not meant for water, such as a sledge. The sledge is drowning, and I see how it disappears in the darkness. I am afraid of sharks. This fear is absurd, as I fear them even in the lake or river. It is rather an abstract fear of something unknown and wild in the…

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Random thoughts from the journey so far “This too will pass” An ancient saying that helps with seasickness and hours of sailing as a passenger in the dark and rolling Baltic Sea. After this journey lasting over a few days and nights I’m thinking about things with a different focus, things like peeing, pooing and vomiting. But also more abstract things like space to move about, to sleep to make food… We (humans) don’t own things anymore than they own…

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I lie on a rock and gradually realize I am on the ants’ path. Three different spiders visit my towel. They climb over me, tickle, and bother me. A green shiny beetle is perched in the middle of the towel when I return from a bush pee. I am in their way. The sun is burning hot. Blue-green algae have already been detected in the capital region, the warm early summer hastened its development. Thanks to Godzilla, I have spent…

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