Terve! 안녕! and Memoir of Blooming Moments

WURI, who lives and works in Seoul, is carrying out art projects for thet UNESCO World Heritage Site on the Sammallahdenmäki Bronze Age cairns. Before coming to the residence, she was well acquainted with the history of the area and, after visiting the place, was inspired by flowers that symbolize both welcome and farewell.

Origami flower workshops run by Wuri and August 15-18th the upcoming paper flower installation will celebrate the naming of the place on the World Heritage List 20 years ago. The starting point for art projects has been the way of decorating graves with flowers, common to many cultures. At a time when paper was precious, the Koreans used paper flowers for funeral and sacred ceremonies. The old habit has remained the same these days. The purpose is to honor the dead and comfort the living, to give them hope for a future to bloom beautifully.

Wuri made the paper flowers from the magazine paper yarn made by another artist who participated in the RaumArs residency program before. In this project, she follows the trace of the previous artist left in the residency and the trace of the time left in the Sammallahdenmäki site, and she wants to express people's attachment to the place, the identity and memory of the place into paper flowers. Lastly, the paper flower work means commemoration about accumulated time and the cultural heritage. It also means an appreciation for the people who have made an effort to preserve this special place.

It is not easy to accumulate and preserve the experience and memory in a certain space. In order to preserve and recall a certain place, invisible things must be combined. She thinks that such experiences, times, and efforts of people can move along with the movement of the individual, so that the place can be duplicated and expanded. At the Sammallahdenmäki site, she faces the trace of time that people's lives, experiences, goals and environment have made. This special place, which continues to gather stories in the future, is like a guide linked to memoir of the past.

The artist wants that visitors to the site can have a little different experience through the beauty of this place and the temporarily installed flowers. On the last day of the event, visitors also can take flowers made from paper yarn.

Terve! 안녕! (= Hello/Goodbye)

When visiting Sammallahdenmäki, please take the printed paper and the folding instructions from the mailbox on the notice board and make an origami as a souvenir of your visit. The printed flower-like pattern is based on moss growing on the rocks of Sammallahdenmäki. In addition to the flower base, the paper also has greetings printed in Korean and Finnish, which are used both when meeting and saying goodbye.

The Korean welcome word '안녕' (An-nyeong) has, in one sense, the wish to 'be safe and secure'. People also use it to ask “how are you/what’s up/I hope you are well” and to wish the other good health, just as in Finland the word is based on health (terve/terveys = hello/health).

Korea's history is full of suffering from wars and subjugation. When people met, it was important to make sure that both of their families had survived the night and had no problems. The greeting and the exchange of words also included the hope of meeting again, alive and well.

The same word of salutation has also been used on graves when praying to the dead for peaceful eternal life.

All in all, the word "안녕" (An-nyeong) has a magical meaning. It connects the coping that has already taken place (being safe without problems) with both this moment and the promise of a safe future. It also connects greeting people together during their absence and forms a visible network of relationships.

Although the exact origin is not known, origami has been handed down in many cultures as a method of commemorative rites for ancestors and amusement for children. In this work, Wuri uses origami as a method of moving ‘experience and memory of the place’ in addition to the usage of traditional origami. While people fold the paper, the place-based experience is replaced into a concrete form that includes specific memories. The paper flowers also function as reminders of individual memories related to the place.

Wuri: "I hope that when you visit Sammallahdenmäki and folding the origami flower, you will give thought to the people who lived there and their loved ones, and that the moment of folding of the origami will bring you joy. Also, I hope you remember those moments when you say or hear a greeting 안녕."