Dear friend of Arkadia, You are warmly invited to the presentation of “My Orient” an art exhibition organised by the “Taidejamit” art club on Tuesday 7.12 at 6pm.  http://mcmuumio.net/My_Orient All members are students of Asian and African languages and cultures at the Department of World Cultures at the University of Helsinki. They are students in Arabic and Islamic studies, Egyptology, Iranistic studies, Sinology, Japanology, and Korean studies. You are welcome to the opening of the exhibition and to discuss the works with all members of the “Taidejamit” art club! The talk will be in Finnish and in English. Warm regards, Ian www.arkadiabookshop.fi   – Entrance is free and green tea will be served. A donation of €2 (or more!) is suggested and would be very welcome. About the artists:, 26, student of Japanese studies. Johannes Cairns I am Johannes Cairns, a 26-year-old student of East Asian Studies at the University of Helsinki. Though I lack any technical training as an artist, every now and then I love to splash oil or acrylic on a canvas and create something spontaneous. My work is inspired by Zen aesthetics, especially Zenga art, a movement within the Japanese Zen Buddhist establishment attempting to capture the simplicity and spontaneity of its ancient predecessors. A key notion of Zen aesthetics is that a piece of art reflects the spiritual state of its creator. Perhaps this is true of my art as well, revealing an idealistic tendency to seek deeper significance for life from a spiritual East. E. Jonasson, student of Japanese studies Siiri Launis, student of Arabic and Islamic studies. Janna Lipiäinen, 21, East-Asian Studies. I learned how to draw and paint by imitating my best friend’s works of visual art ever since we were about 5 years old. I always found her more talented than myself, but by drawing with her year after year I ended up learning to enjoy and appreciate my own creations as well. As a result I found myself applying to an upper secondary school of visual arts and got in. After graduating from there I haven’t done much else than posters and greeting cards. However, sometimes during summertime I paint or draw something colourful to express my gratitude for my favourite season. Suvi Marttila, student of Sinology. Mia Meri, 33, student of Egyptology. For as long as I can remember I have been fascinated about ancient Egypt and tried to copy their art works to my best abilities. As a child the images of Anubis leaned over a mummified body were a constant source of inspiration and amazement. It is therefore no surprise that I chose to study Egyptology as I grew up. My other lifelong passion is drawing. I started with pencils since I could hold one and in high school got into inking my work. For the past few years I have used a computer to color my work. I have also experimented with various paints, but none of them felt right for me. Lately I have also become interested in photography after learning documentation as part of my maritime studies. In my exhibition works I wanted to show respect to the ancient Egyptian masters of art and poetry by illustrating some ancient Egyptian love poems with drawings of my own done in the ancient Egyptian style. Otto Pietinen, student of Sinology Maria Pirseyedi, 20, student of Iranian studies. I’m Maria Pirseyedi, a 20-year-old student. My major is Iranian Studies. It’s very interesting, as the country and its people have an exciting history and culture. I’m especially happy that in our university we have the possibility to study Farsi. I haven’t studied art, but I have liked drawing ever since I was a child. At some point I got bored of drawing horses and started to draw people instead. That was also when I started to use photos as models. Even nowadays when I start to draw, the first thing is to choose one or more photos, mostly of musicians or movie characters. Sometimes I try to capture the model as it is, but sometimes I modify it quite a lot. It’s a lot of fun to see how things change when you combine your own imagination with the figure you see in the model. Piia Ylitalo, 21, student of Japanese studies. Drawing has been a very dear hobby to me since elementary school; I could spend hours during the night in the candlelight concentrating on just drawing. I have always used just pencil and have never colored any of my works. However, after finding watercolours I immediately decided to use them for the works here for I feel they are more inspirational than any other method and reflect perfectly the image I have of Japan. Although the works here now portray more of the naive side of the country, I still want to hang on to that mystical side which took shape during my childhood. Even if just a little bit.