I got a one-year artistic grant until the end of the year and in my mind I’m working on the new production. The challenge is the lack of production support so it’s kind of impossible to proceed with the plans in terms of the people involved. But I’m working on it and have to hand in another two funding applications next week. Besides working on the grant applications, next week I’m busy with completing the soft skin / harsh life & Festive work DVD, having some ANTI meetings and going through the submissions for ANTI 2008.
I’ve been going to the gym quite intensively lately in the near by swimming hall. After the work out, it’s great to have a sauna (which I don’t have at home – shamefully un-Finnish) and maybe a little swim although I don’t usually have time for it if I do a full workout. But the best part is to sit in the sauna and have a shower with all these wonderful women aging from small babies to something like 100 years. Where else is it possible to be naked among some many women from different ages and backgrounds? And see a wonderful selection of female bodies of all shapes and sizes! I just love it and have realised that I need to bring my daughter to the swimming hall more often. Of course the swimming itself is a great exercise but equally important I think is to realize that there are as many different bodies as there are people and everyone is equally beautiful and valuable.
When I was a young girl, I used to go to the swimming hall with my father. He worked in 3 shifts so every now and then he was at home during the day and that’s when we went to swim. I never really learned to love swimming halls and I’m kind uncomfortable with the conditions after the swimming and sauna in the halls. Not the nakedness but somehow I cannot really enjoy the changing, drying hair and trying to dress up after wards the way I can at home. Sometimes I’m also really annoyed with the screaming and loud teenagers as I’m kind of running away from all that to go to exercise and be with my own thoughts. But you cannot have it all, can you?
Tomorrow we are shooting for another Suomi express fro YLE 2 and our topic is the prize of food in Finland. Let’s see what comes up.
Johanna