by Tea Mäkipää
Photo by Antti Huttunen
We humans desire and value closeness to water – real estate prices in great cities by the coasts are a monetary proof of this. As a Finn, I am a living, paying example of the same: actually we Finns work and generally go through great efforts to afford any few days per year in a simple place of relaxation; a typical summer cottage at the shore of a lake, sea, river or pond. Looking at the light and movement interacting with water, brings the feeling of satisfaction and meaningfullness of life. To find ones‘ place as a participant and witness of a system greater than any of human making, these few moments spent where water meets sky, are blessed and give us strength to continue.
In reference to A. Kuusamo and E. Julkunen [1]: “summer cottage semiotic study”. Nature’s staircase: The cottage itself is a hidden city where all the junk that is no longer suitable for a city apartment is brought in. It is the remote terminus of the city. Then we descend towards the sauna, which is the stage of primitiveness: everything must be done as primitively as possible: lighting logs in fire to create heat, water must be carried in buckets, clothes are thrown aside: we approach the bare space of a person. After that, there is the beach, where we approach water by feeling the natures‘ materials touch on our naked bodies, as well as temperature and weather. And finally, water, where we can lose the last standing mark defining a human being – upright position; and we proceed forward by swimming.
Step down the path of Cottage – Sauna – Beach – Water … and you will likely find a momentary peace and harmony with existence. Some see this experience as a sign from greatness of god – some do not feel any need of religion as the nature itself already is mighty and good. It makes sense despite of being veiled in mystery and escapes explanations, brings pleasure and continuity, in short, is holy.
The idea of holiness and holy water exists in most human cultures and habitats, independent of belief systems. How essential water is for life is undisputed. But in a physical sense, it avoids following the known rules of existence over strictly, and provides ever-changing beauty of movement, phases, and states of steam, liquid and solid, serving the cycle of life and biodiversity like nothing else.
With the mandate given to me as an artist I will also declare a certain type of water source as holy. That is a living ecosystem of a peat bog that slowly but naturally deliver us from extra carbon; one of the chief sins of our lifestyle. The miracle of a living swamp inhales carbon and removes it from the air if not disturbed. The swamp water may be murky and dark, but it typically hosts a unique and wide biodiversity like no other type of landscape – it is busy! Germany, as well as Finland, were formerly covered by rich networks of bogs and basins, before the massive projects to dry them for farming, housing and industry during decades and centuries. As a result, Germany suffers catastrophic floods almost annually.
The (human) dependency of water is self-evident. If there is one life-giving entity, maybe that would be the water itself. Some ancient holy waters, such as the Ganges and Huang He, are so despoiled by us humans washing and flushing our sins away, that they start to become full of trash and other types of waste outnumbering the water. If death, suffering and extinction are evil, these rivers are starting to lean more to the dark side. They are still able to support busy bacterial and viral life though. Therefore I will need to re-arrange my values, and place my trust and belief in these strange entities, to manage creation when it comes to biodiversity in the future.
Atmosphere and water in it protect us from cosmic radiation, too, such as gamma rays and protons. Nuclear power stations use water as a shield against radiation as well. Japan, which is blessed with geothermal energy, sun, waves and conventional water energy, is also the home of the “island of luck”, Fukushima. At this location, northern and southern Pacific streams meet and provide great food sources for the marine life and people along.
The name Fukushima is engraved into public memory and nuclear radiation history for a long time to come. Built next to the sea, where the tectonic plates shift, lies the Daiichi nuclear power station, which was damaged by a tsunami in the series of disasters. The ocean came to aid afterwards, and shielded the radiation at the 30 km radius, minimising the radiation to a livable level. Water has unique qualities in that sense – to the extent that fish caught directly in front of the former power station are now edible.
Blessed be the snow and ice, that provide us seasonal beauty, sport opportunities and unique habits. The sleet flying sideways on your face in autumn and spring, also protects Finnish culture from the masses of people, fleeing from droughts in the south. Actually, Finland is “growing” from the sea, as the earth’s crust is still rising after being freed from the weight of the last ice age. In Greenland, this process is now even faster, since the glaciers are reciding at high speed.
Notes
1) Altti Kuusamo, Eero Julkunen, “Life in Finnish Forests: Semiotics of a Summer House”, Semiotica, n. 87, n. 3/4, 1991, pp. 217–224. Altti Kuusamo, Eero Julkunen, Sight, n. 14-15, 1983 . [back]