A man just for love him – idleness and gender roles

I am for the moment making an article about We Are Resident and residency of Helen Sargeant in Tampere Takahuhti arthouse for Tampere art association magazine Täydellinen ympyrä. I will share the same text here after I have finished it.

We have made the text together with Helen and there was one thing that Helen said that start this thought of mine.

Helen tells: “The work that I am interested in making visible is care work and domestic work. In Britain today it is women who still do the majority of care and domestic work. My work is political in that I am highlighting that this is still an issue, and prevents many women from reaching their potential in the labour market or that they find it difficult to be able to work outside the home. Care work mainly goes on inside the home where it is unseen. Ideally the work that parents do would be more equitable.”

I red this and I was thinking my previous text about My time, his time, our time. Our gender roles in our family seems very different. My partner is home-daddy and I am the one who works outside of the house. Neither of us likes to clean, but Laurent cooks and I do the laudry. We both are not at all work- or money -oriented. We have get used to be poor (in Finnish scale). I did my master of arts graduating work about idleness. I like the books of British writer Tom Hodgkinson as well as Gorz, Lafargue and Illich. Still it is more me, who wants to work and who is more ambitious.

I think in Finland there is no more that kind of expectations of gender roles and domestical work or care work, unleast not same much as in Britain it seems to be. Time to time people ask me when my partner is planning to start work, but for most of the people (unleast in our social bubble) being home–daddy don't wake up any questions.

Finnish writer, politician and feminist Anna Kontula wrote very beautifull text called ”Vapaan naisen rakkaus”, - Love of a free woman. I try to translate one paragraph of it:

”Love is luxury of those, whose bread don't depend on chose of spose. Thanks to my ancestress's work of equality, I can take who I wan't, and there is no bigger freedom. I have my career, my room and my bank account, and I need no man for another thing than just for love him.”

*annakontula.fi/2016/09/vapaan-naisen-rakkaus/?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=socialnetwork

My time, his time, our time

Date of the actual residency come closer and Nicola have all ready made some plans for us.

Children are in day care the week that is usually autumn holidays in Finland and our trip to UK will be holidays for them. As I am working now, Laurent is taking care of the children daily, the time I am at work and children are no more at day care. My working day continues usually until 6pm.Often I also work in week-ends.

There are so many things I would like to see in my residency. So many places I would like to visit, and I would like to seriously to do work of my own in the way I could concentrate on it. I do have some plans, that I could put in to practise with children, but I also have a lot of ideas that need time of my own.

People keep saying to me ”Couldn’t your companion look after your children, while you are doing your things.” They don’t catch that that’s what he is doing all of the time.

I would like that this residency would be fun for all the family members. It is not fun to travel another country just to be babysitter while I am looking around and creating things. Children are also looking forward time, when I am not working and they are not in day care to do something together. For them being together is much more interesting than all the museums or other amusements. And they are both a bit shy too to meet new people.

We should find a way that pleases everybody. Both of us adults should get time for our own projects, and we should do fun things all together. And at the same time manage to create some art. This will be our challenge now. And I think this is one main question on what the family residency is about.

Place-based art I

I think there is at least three ways to work in a residency.

A way is to continuing the project that already exist. The work that artist is doing at home country. Residency just gives a chance to concentrate on it better in peace.

Second way is to observe and study in the place and then residence influence the future works. It is like collecting ideas and materials for upcoming works.

One way is to make place based art. This is something I have in mind. When we first time spoke about it with Nicola, I said that I might continue with my carnival theme, which I was doing during last year. But I think not. It could be the carnival, if I will see something like that in Salford.

One example of place-based art that I have made is the works I did in autumn 2009 on one lighthouse island called “Kylmäpihlajan majakka". These works I did in course of my school and they have not been exposed anywhere. Though I find them still  quite great. I think my idea was to catch the spirit or the nature of the island.

Lichen of the great rock was unique.

Drawing lines with rowan berries. There was endless wind on the island middle of the sea. Red lines supposed to show the direction of the wind.

 

Brown alga and the mermaid

And finally the lighthouse itself and my copy.

 

And the shadow that looks greater than the lighthouse I built.

I have got also some ideas of the place based projects we could do with boys.

 Let's see if they will  like it or not.