Thick Time (Os German / Tiheä Aika) is the second chapter of the ‘constellation artwork’ With Forests in Our Mouths. This chapter centres on a short film inspired by visits to the home of visual artist Reidar Särestöniemi (1925-1981) on the banks of the Ounasjoki near to Kaukonen village and research into the Queer histories of Reidar and fellow artist and lover Kalervo Palsa (1947-1987). Poetic text and imagery together dream a speculative moment from their lives in a parallel utopian reality.

“Come on Cial, let’s make a new life / I’m out / Digging the patch / Thinking up a new name for you / It’s a serious business / I’m hunting for a colour in the wet earth …”

The film lingers on ideas of re-naming ourselves and starting again. If Reidar were called Amber, and Palsa had called himself Chalk, would a different future have become possible? What’s in a name? Thick Time weaves together English, Finnish and the Queer language Damiá, through four memories, as time layers up with earth, ink, roots, and dancing bodies.

Thick Time will premiere for live audiences at Hiljaisuus Festivaali and then be available to view for online audiences from summer solstice onwards, here on this website and on Vimeo. During the festival days in Kaukonen, the short research film Self Portrait as Heliotrope (2022) will also be screened.

Come on Cial, Let’s make a New Life

Chalk, Amber, Rust