Iida Hägglund, Helka Saariniemi, Jenni Räsänen, Vilma Vantola & Eeva-Maaria Halonen: tyttörakkauszine
There is no universal type of femininity or typical woman... I will tell you what women have in common - although the most suprising thing is the diversity of their individual characteristics.
- Hélène Cixous, The Laugh of the Medusa
tyttörakkauszine is an immersive zine on stage. It is an attempt to describe, perform, love and write oneself and one's girlhood, both present and the already forgotten. It is a hauntological, breathtaking, dramatic but lounging, naïvist, melancholic yet silly sad girl.
The sad girls's sorrow is an act of resistance in a society often fixated on portraying girlhood as cheerful and fun. Girlhood is often an experience of otherness, and sad girl shakes the patriarchy by resting in sadness. It normalizes weak, fragile, sad and failed narratives of womanhood, and fights against hyper-happy and performance-driven boss-girl feminism. If sorrow is experienced together, can collective understanding, liberation, joy and love for girlhood be found?
tyttörakkauszine opens a passage into five different experiences rooted in girlhood, as well as into a shared landscape that they form. The makers of the performance installation are all performing arts designers.
Working group:
Sound design & music: Iida Hägglund Stage and video design: Helka Saariniemi
Costume design: Jenni Räsänen
Lighting design: Vilma Vantola
Dramaturgical support: Eeva-Maaria Halonen
Supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Kone Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation
Photo by Helka Saariniemi
