CREATIVE WRITING

In this course, we approach writing through observation, note-taking, and association exercises. We search for the sentence, internal editorial dialogue, and the idea of literary style. The body is the place of observation, and the mind is savage. Existence is constructed in coordinates, slowly undressing and covering oneself, bathing in the glow of strange lands. We feed it both sides of the moon. "I write so that the day becomes visible. I write into the mist from the sternum, and the essence of the mist expands. (...) The field and the animals blend with people and views. Movement is perfect: things move in each other's waves. Speech is difficult to hear and impossible to understand. Yet everything is clear and obvious. Forms disintegrate and constantly connect with each other. I write." (Maria Matinmikko: White)

Maria Matinmikko is an award-winning poet and prose writer. Her first three works, White (2012), Black (2013), and Colors (2017), form a literary ensemble. Kolkka (Corner, 2019) is a phantasmagorical, philosophical, and feminist verse novel. Valohämy – taide, maisema ja maailmanloppu (Chiaroscuro – art, landscape, and the end of the world) was published in the fall of 2023. The work also includes photographs taken by Matinmikko and drawings by the visual artist Sami Jalonen. An audiobook was also released, with sound artist J. Koho composing an electro-acoustic soundscape. Matinmikko is a member of the writing collectives of the Society for Possible Literature's novel Ihmiskokeita (Experiments on Humans, 2016) and the digital work Lähes tunnistamaton mahdollisuus menettää (Almost Unrecognizable Chance to Lose, 2018). Matinmikko's literature transcends genre boundaries, combining poetic, philosophical, and socio-political thinking in various ways. She graduated from the University of Helsinki with a Master's degree in Philosophy, specializing in aesthetics.

Photo: Ville Julius Blad