Naisten puutarha (“Women’s Garden”)

Seven women from Hyvinkää form the basis of this environmental art piece. But who these women are was determined by the audience.

The audience could submit their suggestions for suitable role-models for these plant sculptures. The models needed to be living people residing in Hyvinkää, who have earned their place on the sculpture. The artist selected which sculptures to make based on these suggestions and their argumentation. A garden was built around each of these women: Some plants were medicinal, some edible, some fragrant, and some tactile. The seven plant sculptures and their gardens formed an environmental art piece spanning the whole of Hyvinkää’s Library Square. On the last exhibition day, the plants were distributed among anyone willing to take them home.

Salmi selected the following people as models for the sculptures:

Sinikka Ala-Paavola, language teacher emerita/municipal politician
Diandra Flores, singer
Charlotta Kivistö, intendent for the Hyvinkään Orchestra
Anu Lahtinen, professor at the University of Helsinki
Helvi Mustonen, visual artist
Anita Tamminen, nurse/terveydenhoitaja/organizational activist
Mother (Kaarina Tuomi), a representation of all mothers