Floating Density

Tokyo, 2004 — solo exhibition at OFR, Paris, 2009
Video, photography, painting, text and found materials

While living in Tokyo with her young daughter, Sanna Elina Ahtisaari witnessed the disappearance of a small garden surrounded by rapid urban development. At the same time, she was experiencing respiratory illness and became increasingly attentive to the relationship between the body, the city and the living environment.

Over several weeks she documented the demolition of the site and the felling of its final tree. After the tree was cut down, she recovered part of its root system and transported it to her temporary living space, where it became the basis for a sculptural installation.

The project brought together photography, film, painting, text and found materials. Moving between documentation and ritual, Floating Density explored themes of ecological loss, transformation and memory. The work reflects an enduring concern in Ahtisaari's practice: how traces of what disappears remain embedded in bodies, landscapes and matter itself.