On Wednesday, 28 January at 16.00, artist Kelli Gedvil and writer Maarja-Liis Mölder will open their joint exhibition on mental health, “Speaking of Rope in the Hanged Man’s House. Up to Vargamäe.”, at Vargamäe. On the opening evening, psychologist Tiina Saar-Veelmaa will speak about Estonians’ happiness at work, and Kaja Kraavi’s kannel students from Albu School will perform. The literary exhibition weaves poetry, art and the personal experiences of Estonians into a whole framed by Anton Hansen Tammsaare’s “Truth and Justice”. If depression, burnout or oppressive loneliness do not disappear by digging ditches and building bog bridges, another person’s help is needed. Mölder and Gedvil respond to the characters and themes of the century-old foundational text with their own pencil-and-brush and sharp questions. An interactive worry well and cooperation with mental-health specialists offer visitors practical support for caring for themselves and their loved ones alongside the artistic experience. If the exhibition brought comfort in the capital at the end of last year, now there is an opportunity to experience it at A. H. Tammsaare’s home farm. The artists say it is a great honour for them that the exhibition reaches Vargamäe in the anniversary year of “Truth and Justice”. On the opening evening, psychologist Tiina Saar-Veelmaa will speak about Estonians’ happiness at work. Tiina Saar-Veelmaa is a psychologist, writer and researcher of work happiness who has devoted 24 years to studying the formula for happiness at work. On 28.01 she will speak about burnout and work fatigue as the pests that eat away at joy in work, and also about what each person can do for their own well-being and happiness at work. The lecturer will also share practical tips that can be used right away. “Maarja-Liis Mölder’s and Kelli Gedvil’s exhibition definitely belongs in the top three exhibition experiences of my last year,” says writer and Tammsaare Literary Prize laureate Lilli Luuk. “When leaving the timeless, and slightly magical, space created by these artists, the viewer not only feels the urge to reread the foundational text with a broadened gaze, but also the wish to ask another person how they are really doing,” says Luuk, adding that after looking into the mirrors she herself felt as if the burden on her shoulders had somehow become lighter. According to Luuk, the artist and the writer enter into a rather provocative dialogue with the classic. “One value of this exhibition is that alongside questions there are also solutions,” she says. FOR ANDRES, one question if I may: what is it that we Estonians, even having come down from Vargamäe, seem able to live only on farms. / Maarja-Liis Mölder / Maarja-Liis Mölder, born in 1994, is a freelance writer and editor. She is a master’s student in literary studies at Tallinn University, but has also studied journalism and peer counselling. In autumn 2019, with support from the Cultural Endowment, her poetry collection “Miks teisi ei lööda” was published, and in 2022 her second collection “Meesinine”, which was also nominated for the Cultural Endowment’s poetry prize. Mölder’s texts have appeared in various poetry anthologies and in the journal Looming and have been translated into Finnish and Norwegian. Mölder is a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union. Kelli Gedvil, born in 1994, is an artist who lives and works in Tallinn. She has completed a bachelor’s degree in painting and a master’s degree in contemporary art at the Estonian Academy of Arts and is currently earning a microdegree in museology. She has studied abroad at the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and Valand Academy in Sweden. She has participated in exhibitions in Estonia, Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Canada, Hungary and Poland. Gedvil is a co-founder of the art collective Robin Ellis Meta, curator and web developer of the online gallery post-gallery.online, and a member of the Estonian Artists’ Association. Supporters: Estonian Cultural Endowment, Estonian National Culture Foundation. We look forward to welcoming you to the exhibition opening on 28 January at 16.00. Admission to the opening event is free. See also: kirjanduspidu.ee.
