Leena Ylä-Lyly
Takotsubo
5–29 December 2024
I have had my heart broken more times than I can remember.
Lost a loved one, love, been left alone with my emotions.
Held the hand of a dying person,
missed someone who never came.
Heard a crack under the breastbone,
just breathed for a moment.
You can. Can you?
Takotsubo was inspired by an article about broken heart syndrome. It described how, in 2004, Japanese doctors reported that individuals visiting clinics after an earthquake had symptoms similar to those experienced during a heart attack. The pain caused by takotsubo cardiomyopathy during and after a major emotional shock resembles a heart attack. In this condition, the left ventricle of the heart changes its shape, resembling a Japanese octopus trap (“takotsubo” in Japanese). The pain experienced during heartache is physiologically real, not just figurative. The question whether you can die from a broken heart appeared in a new light. I began to depict the feeling based on intuition.
Leena Ylä-Lyly (b. 1979) is a photographic artist living and working in Helsinki. She earned her Master of Arts degree from the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 2017. Ylä-Lyly’s artistic work focuses on death, emptiness and silence. She is often influenced by Zen Buddhism and the related arts. What interests her in a photograph is silence and the movement it contains. Ylä-Lyly has taken part in several group exhibitions and worked in various residences in Finland and abroad. Takotsubo is her seventh solo exhibition.
Thank you
Arts Promotion Centre Finland, Ruusu Hulmi, Kimmo Metsäranta, Lyly.
Contact details
www.leenaylalyly.com
+358 40 7011221
leena.yla.lyly(a)gmail.com
