Yet unsolved – Love

Weird We-ness

The more ego-driven a person is—also in love—the greater the risk of disappointment.

Love, at its core, is an interest and care directed outward: toward a person, a phenomenon, or even a fleeting moment. It is not always selfless, nor does it need to be, but in its purest form it carries a sense of reciprocity, and balance. Love exists regardless of outcome. It is also the space that allows things simply to be. A living organism. Something that does not always produce pleasure.

Above all, love is experienced. It is deeply human and, at the same time, something almost incomprehensible. You might imagine it as an automatic function within us, yet it reveals itself in different ways depending on how freely it has been allowed to express itself. Love gathers all the basic elements of being human—thought, emotions, meaning—and weaves them into a phenomenon that both sustains and unsettles us.

It was out of these reflections that the work Hede was born. I had just met the circus artist Olli Vuorinen, who was tinkering with odd objects and juggling balls. At the time, I was standing at a crossroads in my life—leaving something significant behind while cautiously inviting something new, even frightening, in. I began to write about love, its weirdness, and the mysterious ways in which things happen between people when limits move.

Where Beauty Breaks and Begins Again

I’m the daughter of a florist. Perhaps that is why I became drawn to the nature of flowers—how something so beautiful can wither in an instant, and then, in time, burst forth again in new brilliance.

Together with Olli, we started shaping a performance about flowers, humanity, and strange objects. During the process, I wrote in my notebook:

“Could it be that the foundation of love is best built on the separateness of you and me—and the sense that we do not necessarily need each other for anything? In small doses, we can give one another something extra to what already is.

Love requires an acknowledgment of our neediness and limitedness. The hardest part of love is exposing oneself to rejection. Whether it happens or not, within that risk lies the longest curriculum of love. It is the way we reach into the dark and fragile part of ourselves that cries out for acceptance, for a loving gaze.

Love confuses the mind with the subtle way our realities intersect. Sparks fly, pulling us toward connection. It is, in truth, quite wonderful. And yet, no matter how we resist, we cannot escape our selfishness, our curiosity, our desires, our unfinishedness, our longing to belong, to be safe, and to be free—all at once.

In love, we are always related. It asks us, again and again: which comes first—you or me?"

Free to Love – Free to Let Go

Love is a magnificent opportunity to recreate the world. The freedom I allow myself in this act of creation correlates directly with the freedom I allow the other.

The poems I wrote for the performance were later translated into French and German. The strangest part was that the Finnish premiere ended up being our very last show. Life had turned the next page, leaving the mystery of love stay unsolved.

Maybe because of the intensity and personal levels of the process, I had thought this would be, my final cross-art collaboration piece.

How wrong was I.

With love,

Katri