Fiber artist Raija Jokinen combines painting, paper making, graphics, and textiles to create delicate artwork that explores the borderlines of physical and immaterial feelings.
Her method of work can be compared to painting and drawing, but the “paint” is in fact fiber, while stitching is used to form illustrated lines. her methods and materials are also related to handmade paper techniques: a sheet of paper is formed of pulp consisting of short bast fibers and water. The technique she’s developed could, therefore, be located in the meeting point of painting, graphic art, and textile.
“My works may reveal the idea with a figurative or an abstract, many-faced and delicate manner,” writes Jokinen on her website. “I like to break intangible things into pieces and, in a way, rename or reorganize them by using the material structure. I am looking for analogies to the material and immaterial structures and the closest features appear in own our bodies. Very often in these cases, the question arises about what is really tangible and what is not and where is the borderline between physical things and emotions.”
Her works often focus on the human body, recreating such details as skin, blood vessels, and nerve tracks. “I am excited in their apparent similarity and infinite variation together with the life-support functions they represent and how these visual allegories can be found in almost all living organisms,” she writes.
But although the finished product might look fragile, her works are durable and light-weighted and can be easily hanged and displayed. Take a look:
