Story Info
Story Info
Panu Pihkala
HESY Animal Cemetery, Haaga
2023
Type of Wounded Place
Story & Experience
On November 30th, there was first a session organized by the Finnish social and health sector project about eco-anxiety and eco-emotions (www.ymparistoahdistus.fi). This “morning coffee roundtable”, a hybrid event, focused this time on ecological grief and Panu Pihkala gave a presentation about the subject, introducing his new preprint article “Ecological Sorrow” (https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202311.0967/v1).
After the session, seven of us walked two kilometres through the “Central Park” of Helsinki, which is a coniferous forest; the park is a success story in conservation, because builders have for decades tried to snatch pieces of the forest from all angles. During the walk, we talked in pairs about meaningful relations with other species, and collected materials for a RadJoy bird.
Upon arrival, we entered a liminal time and space by stepping inside the fence of the animal cemetery. We made a circle around the memorial stone for animal test victims with the materials collected along the way. Panu led a memorial ritual. After introductory words, names of extinct species written on small pieces of paper were distributed to the participants, 5 each. We read them out loud. A memorial music followed, played from a portable speaker. During the music, Panu unpacked a board (ilmoitustaulu in Finnish) from a black clothes bag, which was placed next to the memorial stone. People were invited to pin the names of species to the board. Intuitively, people made a network-like shape – or a cascade-like shape – with the papers. Included was one blank paper to depict unknown species loss.
After a moment of silence, there were memorial words, and an invitation to bodily movement, in ways which each participant felt like doing. Somebody kneeled, somebody walked around the circle, somebody rocked themselves gently etc.
On November 30th, there was first a session organized by the Finnish social and health sector project about eco-anxiety and eco-emotions (www.ymparistoahdistus.fi). This “morning coffee roundtable”, a hybrid event, focused this time on ecological grief and Panu Pihkala gave a presentation about the subject, introducing his new preprint article “Ecological Sorrow” (https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202311.0967/v1).
After the session, seven of us walked two kilometres through the “Central Park” of Helsinki, which is a coniferous forest; the park is a success story in conservation, because builders have for decades tried to snatch pieces of the forest from all angles. During the walk, we talked in pairs about meaningful relations with other species, and collected materials for a RadJoy bird.
Upon arrival, we entered a liminal time and space by stepping inside the fence of the animal cemetery. We made a circle around the memorial stone for animal test victims with the materials collected along the way. Panu led a memorial ritual. After introductory words, names of extinct species written on small pieces of paper were distributed to the participants, 5 each. We read them out loud. A memorial music followed, played from a portable speaker. During the music, Panu unpacked a board (ilmoitustaulu in Finnish) from a black clothes bag, which was placed next to the memorial stone. People were invited to pin the names of species to the board. Intuitively, people made a network-like shape – or a cascade-like shape – with the papers. Included was one blank paper to depict unknown species loss.
After a moment of silence, there were memorial words, and an invitation to bodily movement, in ways which each participant felt like doing. Somebody kneeled, somebody walked around the circle, somebody rocked themselves gently etc.
Why this Place?
HESY Animal Cemetery, Haaga
We wanted to remember and witness Remembrance Day for Lost Species at a symbolic location. This animal cemetery dates back to 1947 and has a memorial stone for animals damaged and killed in animal testing.
Act of Beauty
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At the end of the ritual, we transformed the circle into a RadJoy bird. It became something akin to a grouse: a short beak, a bulky body. After closing words, we shared food and hot drinks at a table in the cemetery, and talked about our experiences.
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