This residency took place on Kökar in the Åland archipelago, where isolation and proximity to the landscape shaped the working process. The residency offered time and physical closeness to a specific environment, allowing observation to unfold slowly rather than as a reference.
Working on site, drawing and painting became a way to register rhythm, repetition, and subtle shifts rather than depiction. The open horizon, wind, and reduced stimuli influenced both tempo and decision-making in the studio. Sketching outdoors functioned as a grounding point, later informing larger painted works.
The residency deepened my ongoing investigation of landscape as an inner and collective space, shaped as much by duration and attention as by form. Kökar reinforced the importance of working from presence rather than interpretation, allowing process to remain open and responsive to place.