Raven Alaska and Hiie Lee Posti "Shimmerings"

Description

On Wednesday, November 18, the exhibition “Shimmerings” by Raven Alaska and Hiie Lee Posti will open at the Jakobi Gallery. The exhibition remains open until December 17.

Pallas Applied Art School photography student Raven Alaska and Tartu Children's Art School alumna Hiie Lee Posti have moved to Tartu at different times, in different stages of life, and from different places. What unites them is that they originally came from small towns with only a few hundred inhabitants, and thus their perspective on city life is unique. Fields, thickets, and close-knit communities have been replaced by bustling traffic and dense settlement - a transition that can be quite dizzying. Although they have figured out the bus routes and the network of streets, this artificial environment can still, at times, feel alien.
The city lends a sense of anonymity to our small lives, and tall apartment buildings cast shadows upon the streets - shadows in which one can seemingly disappear. Within the urban space, locals - who breathe in sync with the city - shimmer as they pass us by, while at night, the sky above us glows softly with light. Sometimes, when wandering the streets at night, one might spot a solitary light flickering in a window - a reminder of those who, amidst the harsh asphalt landscape, find themselves thinking of the gravel roads of their home villages.
The city can be simultaneously claustrophobic and unfathomably vast, isolating yet connecting, dull yet exhilarating. The artists capture these contradictions through oil paintings and photography. The idea for this exhibition was born right here in the Jakobi Gallery, when Raven and Hiie Lee met in the summer of 2024. The artists realized how well their perspectives on art aligned, and it soon became clear that they had to organize an exhibition together.

This exhibition invites you to think about what the city means to you and who you are within the context of the modern urban environment. Who are we when the city swallows us whole?

Raven Alaska is a fourth-year photography student at Pallas Applied Art School. Although born amidst the reeds of Häädemeeste, she considers herself a true citizen of the world. Having lived everywhere from Guatemalan jungle to the Mexico City, she is no stranger to contrasts. Beyond working with a camera, she plays drums for fun, experiments with graphic arts, and hosts music quizzes. She has dedicated her life to art, cats, and volunteer work. Her previous experience includes several group exhibitions at Gallery Pallas.

Hiie Lee Posti is a final-year high school student in a specialized cultural studies curriculum. Born in Tartu, she considers Mehikoorma - a village by Lake Lämmijärv - to be her childhood home. She held exhibitions in Mehikoorma in both 2023 and 2024. Additionally, in 2024, she held solo exhibitions at the Võru Central Library and the Räpina Creative House. From 2019 to 2024, she attended the Tartu Children’s Art School, which she considers the primary influence on her art. Alongside her secondary school studies and art art practice, she also engages with linguistics and literature.

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