Landys Roimola (1992, Bogotá) is a multidisciplinary installation artist who graduated with a master’s degree in art from Aalto University and as a printmaker from Saimaa Academy of Arts. Roimola’s works are based on observations and studies about social problems, identity and climate destruction. The artist’s works have been seen in private and group exhibitions in Finland and abroad (Mänttä Art Weeks, Kiasma URB, Tolima Art Museum, El Nogal). Roimola is especially known for spatial and environmental artworks and public art works. The facade of Imatran Theater won second place in the facade of the year competition 2017. The artist is also a member of MUU ry and the collection.
The artist sees trash as an interesting material because it has a history behind it and it is personal material for everyone. Since 2018, Roimola has channeled her growing anxiety about climate change, mass extinction, the uncertainty of the future and the feeling of powerlessness in the form of the series “Floor is Lava” into a rolling mass that forces the viewer to stop. The black monumental mountain becomes a political landscape as the collection of its materials reveals deep social and economic concerns in each new city and country where it is built. The artist has built eight Floor is Lavas, the most recent two in Colombia 2023.
Anthro-po-cene image manipulation series and video work (2021) are glimpses of images and videos about self, understanding and horror in the Anthropocene era. Mirroring one’s actions, thoughts and privileges is painful and lonely work and it would be easier to look away. The video work had its international premiere in Bogotá at the EuroCine film festival in the spring 2023, where Finland was the focus country. The Film Foundation chose the film alongside the film “Girls, girls girls ” by Ilona Ahti and Daniela Hakulinen.
Roimola became interested in exploring and creating identity through art when she heard about her roots in the Muisca and Tayrona, the indigenous people of Colombia, for whom nature is the ruler of everything and people’s job is to protect nature. For years, the artist has been fighting based on the same goals with her massive installations without knowing her background. We are the ancestors of the future and it is important to be aware of the stories we pass on. How can we let go of the stories that limit us individually and divide us collectively? On the other hand, how can we let go of something that we don’t even necessarily understand or know about? What happens if someone’s history is erased? The news about her roots made Roimola reflect on her perception of herself, her privileges and her possible responsibilities towards her roots. Indigenous peoples around the world are often in a marginalized and even life-threatening position. This is possibly the reason for her adoption as well. Understanding her own roots, but also being able to live in prosperous Finland, the artist wants to understand her power and responsibilities through art. Roimola is currently working on the themes of political landscape, otherness, adopted identity and inherited traumas.
In the spring of 2022, the artist built the first work related to Colombia, “Landscapes”, commissioned by Kiasma for the Kiasma Urb exhibition “to be in perpetual dawn”. The work is an eight-meter installation where long hair creates a bridge between our world and something unknown. As the name suggests, landscapes, mountains, rivers, fields and valleys are made of hair.
The work series Lado Animal (2023) is the first work series created in Colombia where nature pushes through humanity, and the walls of the home begin to suffocate the artist. As a solution, the artist destroys her entire home. The exhibition was seen in Bogotá in March 2023 and will come to HAA Galleria in the fall 2023.
The fight for nature has finally taken shape when she has understood her place in the middle ground of two countries and two cultures, but the journey is just beginning.