salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears

Tears and drops of blood and sweat create a tragic story about lost love and its chaotic emotional consequences.

Nastja Säde Rönkö’s (b. 1985) video installation is driven by a poetic text: intimate, ambiguous verses tell not only about love, but also about lost and found identity, a scarred planet and our ever-changing world. The artist herself is the narrator of the video.

“Once you told me that human blood has the same amount of salt as the ocean. I don’t think it’s true, but I can no longer discuss it with you.”

The video work is based on the artist’s meticulous groundwork. Her interest was sparked by the suggestion that there was as much salt in human blood as in the ocean. Although it turned out that this is not true, she addresses the subject from many different perspectives: via science, beliefs, fears and love.

Nastja Säde Rönkkö received the third Below Zero Prize (2023) and created the work in connection with a mentored residency provided by it. 

BELOW ZERO PRIZE

Below Zero is a UK-based contemporary art award for Finnish artists and artists residing in Finland who are emerging on the international art scene, organised by Beaconsfield Gallery, Serlachius and the Finnish Institute in the UK and Ireland, supported by the Mirisch & Lebenheim Charitable Foundation.

The award includes a mentored residency and exhibition at Beaconsfield Gallery in London, followed by a subsequent exhibition of the commission at Serlachius in Mänttä, Finland. The first Below Zero award residency took place in 2018.

Nastja Säde Rönkkö

Nastja Säde Rönkkö is an artist working with video, performance, installation and text. Her projects investigate relationships between the digital era, power, humanity and the future of our planet.

Rönkkö has exhibited and performed internationally in places including Somerset House, London; Sydney Opera House; SXSW, Austin, Texas; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Glasgow International; FACT Foundation for Art and Technology, Liverpool; Museum of Moving Image, New York; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; BMoCA Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, Colorado and Rønnebæksholm Kunsthall, Denmark. 

Her work has won several awards including Best Experimental Film at Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival; Best Editing, NYC Indie Film Awards; Best Short Film and Best Director in Short Film, Marietta International Film Festival and Seeing the Bigger Picture Award, American Documentary Film Festival and Film Fund 2018. She was the 35th recipient of the Young Artist of the Year 2019 title and award in Finland, and the third recipient of the UK’s Below Zero Art Prize 2023.

Publication

Videostory

Artwork image: Nastja Säde Rönkkö, salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears, 2023, still image from a 3-channel video work.