LOTTA MATTILA

1986 | Kuopio | sculpture

I find it hard to ever sit still. Whenever I should settle down and plant roots, I instantly feel like running away as fast as I can.  As a child I discovered that the power of an outboard engine in measured in horsepower. As I clung tightly to the rope in the bow of a speeding motorboat, I imagined myself being pulled by a team of horses galloping through the waves. The wind howling in my ears drowns out what the others are saying, and I feel comfortingly alive as the boat speeds across the water. Whenever the anxiety mounts to a point where my chest feels like it is about to explode, I think about how much horsepower each person has inside them. When you run at full throttle, you forget that you aren’t running from anything, nor are you running to get anywhere.