Works on Paper

“In her work, Minna Henriksson (1976, Oulu, Finland) explores themes such as nationalism, racism, economy, the erased history of the leftist struggle, politics in art, and so forth. In this project, she turns to socio-political relationships that are geographically and historically linked to relations between Finland and the Republic of South Africa during the period of apartheid. Works on paper casts light on the historical role of raw materials and companies engaged in their production and transport.

Paper was Finland’s main export item and covered more than one half of the importing country’s material for daily press in the period under discussion. One of the strongest and most influential silent weapons for the dissemination of ideas and indoctrination, it was also used as a means of identification with the leading authoritarian ideology and consequently of maintaining the apartheid. In her linocuts the artist can on the relief surface—spanning the image and word, by containing drawings, logos, and extracts from documents—establish a specific historical experience and show the exporting country’s bipolarity, which continued even after transport trade unions and paper industry workers terminated their cooperation with the Republic of South Africa (1985), all until 1987, when Finland finally imposed embargo that lasted for four years.”

– Alenka Trebušak