"Give yourself a present, Forgive yourself"

Image: Eija-Liisa Ahtila: Working flat out

Last i week i came across an exhibition in the temple bar gallery. It was by an Finnish artist by the name of Eija-Liisa Ahtila and is titled The present. The exhibition consists of five televisions and five separate episodes of women and there development of phychoses.

The first episode i watched was about a women who she wanted to hide from the world and she decided to cover up her room and live without the sounds and noises of the outside world. I thought to myself that this exhibition was possibly about peoples responses to there memories of war or themes along these lines.

After briefly looking through the episodes i still was not sure about the theme of the exhibition until i seen one of the episode in particular. This episode was about a girl and she was paranoid about these people and she referred to these people as 'them' coming after her and so she hides under her bed. It was obvious within this episode that she was in a metal institution. After looking through the episodes i read the press release. It didn't occur to me that all these episodes were illustrating mental stability and the development of the women's phychoses.

I feel that this exhibition was very intense and sorrowful. The emotion of sorrow is illustrated thourgh that fact that these people are so ordinary and these emotionally states could developed from anything from flawed relationships to failing families. The emotions and hysteria that these characters have are portrayed extremely well through the camera lens. I found this five piece five peice installation very inspiring. I'd thoroughly recommend this exhibition to any person who is interested in psychology and visual arts. The exhibition will continue until the 23rd of May in Temple Bar Gallery.