Haapa / Aspen

Community-based public artwork centered on a veteran aspen
Luonnonmaa Family Centre, Naantali
Collaboration with Heidi Häyry and Minna Haapasalo
2023–2025

Haapa is a site-responsive, community-based public artwork centred on a 140-year-old protected aspen and its surrounding ecosystem in the schoolyard of the Luonnonmaa Family Centre. The work approaches the tree as both a living organism and a shared point of orientation, around which meanings, relationships, and forms of care are articulated.

The Luonnonmaa Family Centre brings together primary and pre-primary education and daycare. Its facilities are also used by residents and community organisations.

The project unfolds as a total work that brings together spatial, ecological, and narrative elements. Its visual dimension consists of 64 large window panels with texts and drawings, extending the presence of the aspen and its ecosystem into the built environment. The work also includes the restoration of the protected aspen’s soil and a planting plan for the surrounding yard, situating the artwork within ongoing ecological processes.

Community engagement is integral to the work. Through dialogical processes, the project supports the emergence of a new community identity and fosters a sense of belonging. It further aims to strengthen an empathetic culture of interaction within the Luonnonmaa Family Centre. The artists facilitated sessions with staff, during which spaces within the new building were named in relation to the themes of the work, and ways of integrating Haapa into the educational programme were explored.

The working group operates dialogically, with responsibility distributed across its members. The concept and participatory processes were developed collectively. Minna Haapasalo was responsible for narrative development and texts, while Heidi Häyry and Nina Rantala developed the visual components of the work. Horticulturalist David Stokes served as the team’s tree specialist.

Photographs of Haapa by Iiro Tujula, additional photographs by the artists.