"In the very centre of European cities are huge shopping malls"

Finnish artist Amanda Vähämäki is the 3d in the row of Comixiade-interviews. She elaborates on light, art, a bit of Europe and ‘nonlieux’ of this world we’re living in.

How did you enjoy drawing the Osvald-piece? Where did you find your inspiration for this narrative?
At the beginning it wasn’t so easy to think about a story for a specific character created by someone else. I usually have my own set of characters. But then again there was something familiar in Osvald, so I just decided to start drawing. I thought about Osvald’s friend, the pig Karmen, who had had not very much to do in the previous Osvald comics. Some time ago there was a big advertisement campaign in Finland made by pig meat producers and the Ministry of agriculture in order to make people consume more pig meat. I thought about this and the hostility of Finns towards foreigners – nothing new about this hostility, but it has been a big question during this spring since a right-wing “Danish style” populist party won the Finnish parliament elections. I decided there could be something for my story there. I decided Osvald and Karmen could be visiting Helsinki during a summer night. A vision of the late hours in the block where I used to live came to my mind, and I thought Osvald should remain sober that night (maybe he just arrived?) in order to fully experience the brutality of it all.

The first comic I ever read of you was about the endless winter night in Finland (published in Orang). Now, for Comixiade you made a comic about the ‘white nights’ in Finland’s summer. What is the impact of these remarkable northern seasons on you? And on the Finns?
The comic in Orang is not actually located in Finland – it’s much more a non-specific place, and the darkness is somewhat different there. It’s not so cold, it’s even more overwhelming and it’s there more because of the spirit of the story, not in order to document something “real”.



But anyway, the impact these seasons (winter/summer) have on me are somewhat banal. Like most people, I feel pretty tired during winter since it’s so dark and pretty happy and lazy and willing to wander around during the summer. I still enjoy the winter as well, I think I’m capable of enjoying it because I’m not tied to the artificial rythym of working hours (from 9 to 5). I think I need that darkness.

How do you visualize ‘ light’ in the most essential way?
I’m not sure if I got this question right. But usually, when drawing with pencil, I make smudgy grey or black areas where I erase with a kneaded eraser the parts that will become light.

There is this Serbian writer Milos Crnjanski who wrote a great book called “Among the Hyperboraens”, in which he was longing for the north (Scandinavia/Greenland/North Pole), while living in Rome just before the Second World War. He lived in both parts of Europe, just like you did live in Italy and Finland. Do you long for the south?
Yes I do. I went to live there when I was still growing up to be myself. So there are parts of me that are and always will be related to that country and that life in the “south” - I actually don’t think I lived in the south since it was Bologna in Northern Italy where I spent those years.

Comixiade looks for narratives ‘on the streets’ and in ‘public spaces’. What did you see today on the streets?
I live on the countryside right now. There are no streets where I live, just roads and paths. When visiting cities I notice there’s a lot of mindless moneymaking going on and that the very centers of most European cities are huge shopping malls (“nonlieus” one might say). Then again I notice also a lot of humanity going on at its best and worst.

If we offer you to travel somewhere, together with Osvald and pig Karmen, to do research on European Narratives, where would you guide him to? And why?
I’d send him to Romania. I don’t know so much about this country and I’d like to learn.

The question of Marc Hannemann, interviewed by Comixiade was: Do you remember a special story connected to European “experiences” from your parents or grandparents?
I ‘m not sure if I do! Finns weren’t really used to see themselves as Europeans. I feel pretty strange telling the stories of my grandparents and parents while most of them are still alive and kicking. My parents lived in Genova when the 2001 G8 meeting took place and one of the “no-global” manifestants was killed and several others were imprisoned and molested by the police.

And what is your question to the next artist?
Why do you want to draw comics? What is it that makes this form of art appealing to you?