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to
Sing
Like
a
City
Bird
Sings

61°36'44.6"N 21°26'57.4"E

And There Was Also A Bar in The Attic

Helen Aleksandrova

Description of work

In September 2014 our 1st year of VICCA had an adventurous time in Reposaari. I remember forests, beaches, one shop, some bunkers, and there was also a bar in the attic. The bar was so secret and hidden yet so bar-looking and perfect. It was an honor to be invited by the owner Paavo Munkki. It was The Merry Monk Pub. This is a memory. This is documentation. The photos are taken by Laureline Tilkin-Franssens and others from our VICCA year. Yet the presented photos are the tip of the iceberg compared to the private photo archive of dear memories that Reposaari united us through. Did I want to share all of those photos with you? Of course. But do pictures from leisure nights have to be shared publicly? Maybe not. Thinking of how to assemble them and present that moment nicely I had a challenge. One way would be to go through all the fun,careless and maybe embarrassing photos and ask each person if they agree the private archive to be public. The next step would be to select only those photos that have been approved. I chose the other way - to show small simple photos that serve as a representation of that day. If this is about a private and secret bar, the bar that you can only experience once you are in it, our private photo collection also remains secret and hidden and only cherishable by those who have experienced it as well. If all the photos from Reposaari will get deleted one day, I will still remember that there was also a bar in the attic.

Bio

Helen Aleksandrova (b.1992) is a Helsinki-based artist and filmmaker from St.Petersburg. She works primarily with moving image, performance for camera and camp horror cinema. In her artistic practice, she is inspired by popular cultural and social phenomena as a platform for creating new ideas. Loving to perform since she was a little kid, Helena got bitten by a stage fright, that made a camera her favourite medium to perform to.

She got her Bachelor’s degree in 2014 from Smolny College, St.Petersburg State University. She also holds a second degree from Bard College. In the Bachelor studies, she was majoring in Film and Video. In 2017, she received her Master degree from Aalto University in the program of Visual Culture and Contemporary Art. In 2018 Finnish Cultural Foundation awarded Helena a working grant. In 2019, she was a participant of Academy of Moving People and Images.