The artist talks about the birth of the Picture Stone

Kai Ruohonen

At the Sanginkontu art trails, an engraved picture can be found on the stone next to the Pilpajärvi lean-to. Picture Stone tells, within the framework of its existence and theme, about the local knowledge in the area and the people who have implemented it.

The image was designed by people living in the area and carved into the stone they chose and erected. The image can be considered a common emblem of the residents of the area if they as a community adopt it as their own. The erection of the Picture Stone is the beginning of this process.

The engraving is colored with red ochre, a dye used in prehistoric rock paintings. At that time, red mulch symbolized life.

The carving on the stone is practically timeless and has an unlimited life cycle, just like the soil on which the stone is erected. The red soil in the engraving needs to be replaced from time to time if the image is to be kept colourful and alive.

Iron oxide, a pigment needed in the production of red ochre, has been left for the use of the inhabitants of the area; It is at their discretion and in their hands to keep the image alive in this regard.

The stone has been erected, an image has been engraved on the stone, and the engraved image has been coloured with red ochre for the first time. However, the Picture Stone is not yet complete; It will not be ready until two or three generations later, when a tradition, a communal meaning, has been born in stone.

Today’s child may eventually bring their own child or grandchild to the stone and show them a pattern that they themselves have been making, kept alive – or just gone to see the picture.

As an ideal, the Picture Stone is a communal work, a landmark over time. The mark engraved on the Picture Stone is not a so-called “icon”. carved in stone. The inhabitants of the area have every right to do so: they can use and shape it according to their own vision and interests.

Residents can also determine the spatial extent of the picture stone themselves. Does the figure represent one single village with the small circle in it, three villages with the three larger circles in the figure, or a larger area along a river connecting people with the boat in the figure?

As an artist selected for the Sanginkontu art trails, my role in this process has been as a director who “set the stone rolling”; the residents of the area gave it direction and keep the image on the stone moving.

I stand behind and next to a rock, not in front of it. The Picture Stone is the work of all the people who erected it and maintained its purpose and functionality.

I’ve never been in the habit of saying goodbye, and I don’t do it now. I want my connection to the Picture Stone and the people around it to be maintained.

In connection with this process, which has lasted for a year so far, I have encountered ideal forms of interaction between people and working together. In addition to the image carved on the stone, these have also left a lasting mark on me; a mental and memory image of the area and its inhabitants built on a positive experience.

The theme of the figure was agreed to be “river pilot”. The theme referred to the skiers who worked along the Oulujoki Tar Route in the Oulujoki Valley, who navigated the boats carrying the tar barrels over tricky spots in the river that required local knowledge.

The theme also referred to Sanginkontu’s other art work, Jussi Ruusulampi’s sculpture Jokiluotsi (River Pilot); the idea was to create a link between the art works.

Based on the image proposals submitted in the drawing competition based on the River Pilot theme, the residents of the area voted for a proposal that will be engraved in stone.

The winning proposal depicted a river pilot at work, roding a boat carrying tar past the shoals. In the proposal, the tar barrels in the boat were described correctly, loaded in the direction of travel. When modifying the suggestion to suit the engraving, I used heraldic principles (coat of arms) principles in depicting the barrels: the lids of the barrels were directed to the side, towards the viewer of the image; thus, they could be unambiguously interpreted as barrels.

As a heraldic example, I used the carriages, which are depicted in the coat of arms from above, so that the wheels are turned flat (into circles) on the sides of the carriage frame; technically wrong, but as a picture it is telling.

The figure has four circles, the head of a river pilot and three tar barrels. I dimensioned the circles together (3:1) using the proportions of the golden ratio, borrowed from nature and commonly used in visual arts. The overall shape of the figure also outlines the same dimensioning.

The number of tar barrels was three; three circles > three dots, a sign of continuity.

(Translated by AI)

PICTURE STONE, environmental art, Kai Ruohonen and residents of the Lapinkangas area, stone, iron oxide (red ochre), 2025