Golden Menstruation

In both her individual artworks and exhibition displays, Jasmin Anoschkin carries the possibility for play. The artworks come together, talk and celebrate birthdays together. The fairytale dimension brings out the essential, and the essential is actually quite simple. In Anoschkin’s reality, everyone is equal, and each creature deserves respect for its mere existence. Anoschkin portrays difference and imperfection; she depicts identities deviating from the norm, the pride to be oneself. Her exhibitions are empowering and permissive, her artworks easy to recognize and to identify with.

One can’t help but think that they are an improved version of the world of commercial reality aimed at children. Growing up surrounded by standards of beauty and conventional aesthetics, children should rather have power animals, imperfectly shaped role models.

Despite this, the actual models for Anoschkin’s sculptures are found in the world of toys, ornaments and souvenirs. Anoschkin does not derive ideas for her artworks from biology books. Her sculptures don’t have species-appropriate characteristics, and a donkey might bear more resemblance to the souvenirs sold at Turkish tourist bazaars than the actual animal. In effect, what she portrays is the image of animals constructed by humans. What is exceptionally interesting in this meta-illustration of animals is that she emphasizes the most awkward characteristics of the man-made animal image, the disproportionate scale and the colour palette detached from reality. In doing so, she laughs at stereotypes and takes the step that the toy industry is afraid to take.

Jasmin Anoschkin is a member of the Arabia Art Department Society. She won the Stamp Art Promotion Award granted by Posti Ltd in 2017. Anoschkin graduated from the Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts in 2004, and her artworks have been acquired by such institutions as the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, the Saastamoinen Foundation and the Finnish State Art Deposit Collection.