In "Off Key," which opened at the Pärnu Artists' House (Pärnu LInnagalerii) on Friday, September 19, Icelandic visual artist Victoria Björk and Estonian artist Inessa Saarits explore memory, dreams and oblivion through sculptures made from soap, peat and glass. 

Saarits told ERR News that her collaboration with Björk began after the two artists first met in Lithuania. "I was really impressed by Victoria's portfolio full of delicate and detailed work, often created with unusual materials such as soap and found objects from different landscapes," Saarits said.

"I felt that our artistic practices could match quite well, and when I later saw the open call from Pärnu Linnagalerii, I trusted my intuition and reached out to Victoria."

Björk had no hesitation in accepting Saarits' invitation to work together.

"I thought to myself 'wow that's super bold, I definitely want to work with someone like this,'" explains Björk. "We had only met that one time shortly in Vilnius so I was familiar with her work and could definitely see some connections. I'm very happy to have gone for it, Inessa is super cool and working together was both inspirational and enjoyable."

In the exhibition pace, pieces of recollections and dreams are scattered throughout – their origin, however, has been forgotten. The fragments are bound together by furniture constructed after century-old photographs, in which Saarits's ancestors pose with their self-made branch furniture.

"We have many photo albums at home with pictures that are 100 to 150 years old. The photographs are beautiful – they feel so tangible compared to digital images. Some of the photos had a silvery effect which worked super well with Victoria's drawings of graphite on black paper. Both needed specific light and angle to be seen," says Saarits.

Throughout the creative process, she often spoke with Björk about memory and its elusiveness.

"Our exhibition is called 'Mälupete' in Estonian, which refers to the idea of memory playing tricks on us. Knowledge gets passed down and much is lost in translation," Saarits explains.

"Even though the photos come from my family's albums, I cannot be entirely certain who the people were—or whether they were all truly my relatives. At the exhibition opening, some of my relatives pointed to a photo of a woman and claimed that she looked very much like me. The photograph had no name written on the back, so we can't know whether the resemblance comes from an actual family connection or simply from my relatives wanting to see a connection."

According to Björk, while working together on the exhibition, she also discovered plenty of similarities between her own artistic approach and that of Saarits. They also often find inspiration in similar places.

"We are both very material-oriented, always seeking ways in how we can experiment with the tactility of strange and organic materials, such as dirt, soap, slime, wax and how the materials transform or fade over time," Björk told ERR News.

"I have also noticed that we are both always on the look for clues to solve a mystery, secret messages, hints and traces that may suggest that something has taken place."

Saarits and Björk were both pleased with how "Off Key" turned out, especially the way their works "matched together harmoniously both visually and conceptually," and are now looking forward to working together again soon.

After "Off Key," Saarits and Björk will be teaming up once more for another exhibition in Estonia – this time at the EKA Gallery in Tallinn at the end of October.

"We won't be showing our own works but we will be curating a group exhibition of 14 artists creating artworks to the theme of composition and decomposition," said Saarits. "We're very excited to see how it turns out."

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More information about Innessa Saarits' and Victoria Björk's exhibition "Off Key" at the Pärnu Artists' House is available here.

The finissage for "Off key" will take place on Wednesday, October 2 at 4 p.m.

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