Dide Siemmond - Hello Kokkola

Hello Kokkola,

We've been here for 2 weeks now and are loving it: the cosy Christmas creativity, the crisp snow air and the lazy fantastical slumber of darkness...

I've mainly been experimenting with melting metal for sculptures and paintings as a bit of side fun. The paintings revolve around ideas concerning freezes, such as brain freezes and freezing moments in time, to address our approach to mental health. I might compose music too, but not sure. Most of my exploring has been sculptural, and I've written some poems too. Here's one like a beetle with a poem inspired by it and Finnish life to go with it. It evolves both a Finnish and Asian tradition. As well as this, I had an idea to create a platform called #creatorsofchange, which I launched last week.

So far I am being inspired by Finnish culture and history as interpreted by me, Arto Passilinna, Väinö Linna, the Moomins. We've been watching Finnish films and reading Finnish books, and I've seen the St Lucia celebrations and sung Finnish Christmas songs in the church - all new to me :-) We've done everything around the town, from the sea, to museums, eating Finnish fare and even archery, so only a wood sauna left to do, and maybe some ice-skating if it gets cold enough. Here are some photos of Kokkola in the snow :-) Hoping for more snow, fingers crossed!

Thank you,
Dide
www.didesiemmond.com