Tense Places: Unpicking the Language of Place and Placement

Abstract

Tense Places: Unpicking the Language of Place and Placement is a practice-based research project comprising a visual module and a written component. The visual module—exhibited at Kuva/Tila during the 2025 MFA degree show—includes a series of screen prints, photocopies of an original visual poem, an assemblage of found and altered objects, and a moving image work. These pieces were developed using techniques such as collage, scanography, and serigraphy, combining found materials with original textual fragments. Drawing on the aesthetics and materiality of photo albums, home movies, and other domestic archiving practices, the artworks explore themes of memory, alternate historiography, and the inherent ambiguity of language.

The written component expands upon the conceptual and formal concerns of the visual works through a critical engagement with linguistic, perceptual, narratological, and cartographic theories. It reflects on the evolving notions of place and placement—both geographic and metaphysical—while addressing how context, subjectivity, and spatiotemporal dislocation shape meaning. Together, the two components propose an inquiry into how language, memory, and material culture intersect in the construction and perception of “tense places”.