Exclusive Interview with Visual Artist Sonya Mantere
Sonya Mantere (1987, Helsinki) is a visual artist based in Finland and the Netherlands. In her work Sonya explores the relationships between her and the subjects, women being the main theme in her work. With her fascination for the female body, she investigates the unreachable experience of being a woman. Sonya wants to capture the character of the subject and to portray the tension between the individual and herself. This social aspect is very essential in her work. Sonya has exhibited her work at UNSEEN Amsterdam (NL), The Grey Space in the Middle (NL) and Melkweg Expo (NL). Her work has been published in Finnish magazines such as Trendi and Astra and the latest being FreshEyesPhoto book for New Talents (2020).
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Her name is Ljubov, it means love. She wanted to be named Rebecca, so she named me after that. I am carrying something she wanted. Why am I not more like her, she asks. She’s used to being invisible. I want to give her the freedom to be someone else
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Having only a mother as a parent I’ve tried to shift from being a continuum of her. We hear how we will eventually grow up to be like our parents. Instead of giving her the space to be herself, I wanted to depict her as someone I feel she is. Someone who wants to perform and to be seen.
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S!: Hi Sonya, thank you for joining us! How are you feeling in the current situation of Covid-19?
SM: We haven't had drastic changes in Finland, just less gatherings with people. I've been blessed with enough customers during this time.
S!: You recently sorted a a new series ‘Rebecca’. Who is a heroine of these artworks?
S!: Why did you choose your mom as your model?
SM: The project started as her being the protagonist, originally revolving around her femininity and appearance. It just naturally evolved into being about all mothers, all women, and her just being the epitome for the narrative.
S!: What is your attitude to the body positive movement?
SM:
Body positivity carries this heavy expectation that we should only have positive emotions towards our bodies. But the ordinary truth is we will experience a range of emotions towards it, and those are the ones that count. It is acceptable to have these vague sensations. It's only called body positivity, because society views our imperfections exactly as such; something that are the opposite of perfection. We should be normalizing all kinds of bodies instead.
S!: It is so inspirational, that you depict elderly woman as a model. It reminds the story of Mae Musk that is still modeling at her 70s and shoving the world that life not ends at being young. Do you share this vision?
SM: One who doesn't share it will have a short lived life. There is so much beyond being young or looking like one. Living has very little to do with your appearance, but more to do with who you are.
S!: What is your biggest dream?
SM:
To be able to inspire the ordinary woman to see that life can be playful and that our aging is merely an occurrence we cannot ease but focusing on it. I want to collaborate with so many great creatives such as Geray Mena and Maja Malou Lyse.
S!: What is your motivational quote of the day?
SM:
Beauty in the traditional sense is someones way of finding their own inner self. I advice to be with yourself; alone in the quiet. To hear who you truly are, and feel what you want to become. Only then you can distinguish if its your intuition guiding you or just the patriarchy.
Have a look at Sonya’s artworks and follow her on instagram @sonyaromina
