I was born in 1976 in Oulu, Finland. My first summer job, when I was 15, was babysitting. I quit when father of the family would stay at home during my working hours, get undressed and start to talk about his recent love affair with a teenage girl. During Secondary High School, sometimes in the evenings, and in the summers I was cleaner in Nokia industrial halls and offices. During my studies in the painting department of the Brighton University, from 1996 to 1999, in the summers I would be working in a meat shop in Oulu selling reindeer meat to tourists. From the meat slicer I have many scars in my fingers and the tip of my left thumb is numb. For studying in UK I didn’t need to pay a semester fee, as Finland had joined EU in 1995, but I funded my living costs in Brighton with a study grant and study loan from Finland. When in the end of the academic year my funds were running short I would work in the Metropol Hotel in Brighton as a wine waitress in banquets. My longest employment has been as film projectionist in Finnkino, from 2000 to 2010. I was usually working there as summer-leave replacement for the regular projectionists. I was advised to sign a 14hour contract, meaning that only after 14 hours runs the overtime double-pay. I liked the job, although the salary was approx. 7€/hour and double pay after 11pm and on Sundays. After graduating from the Helsinki Art Academy with Masters degree in 2003 I had jobs in the Art Academy: to coordinate students’ workshops in İstanbul and Belgrade, and to video record, edit and code for Internet the public lecture series of the Academy. That was well paid. In 2004 I was replacing director of HIAP – Helsinki International Artist-in-Residence Organization. That was part-time job and paid approx. 1150€/month. After a year of running the small organization I decided to quit and to go back to my artwork. In 2007 in Istanbul I worked for 3 months in Platform Garanti Contemporary Art Center with 700TL/month. The work was to be part time, but I ended up having to work much more than was agreed. After that I could have received another job in İstanbul in another art institution, employed by a rich art collector, but the pay was so low that it would have just about covered my rent and nothing else. In 2007 I was conceptual designer of a book by santralistanbul. In 2008 and 2009 I did artist-residencies in Ljubljana, Belgrade and Pristina. In 2009 I started to work as coordinator of Art School Maa in Helsinki for an EU-project. I continued working on that to some extent all through my maternity leave, which was for 11 months in 2009-2010. Also I was giving lectures in the Helsinki Art Academy when my child was three months old, nursing her during the lecture. She is now in kindergarten on weekdays for five hours/day. Recently I have run short courses in the Helsinki Art Academy and Art School Maa, and given lectures in the Helsinki School of Art and Design and the Theater Academy. In 2009 I received a one-year grant from the Finnish Arts Council, but because in 2009 I started with my maternity leave, the grant was postponed and only finished in the end of May 2011. From beginning of June 2011 my status is unemployed, although I have some teaching jobs set for the autumn. From my art studies I have approx. 20.000 € study loan to pay back.
8.06.2011
8.06.2011
