Sanna Hukkanen

Information

Name:

Sanna Hukkanen

Age:

31 (2010)

Nationality:

Finnish

Profession:

Artist

Country:

Tanzania

Describe your background, your interest in development, your affiliation with ngos etc.

I have studied Fine Arts in North Karelia Polytechnic in my hometown, Joensuu Finland. My history with NGOs starts in 1992 in the anti-racism and peace movement in Finland. In Tanzania, I have worked with NGOs dealing with Environment, Art and Human Rights since 2004. At the moment I work with SHIVYAWATA, an umbrella organization for the disabled in Mwanza. In my art work I have concentrated mainly in comics and painting. For me, art is a way of expressing my opinions, feelings and concerns. Comics is a perfect media for that.

How did you first get in touch with World Comics and grassroots comics?

I first contacted World Comics Finland in 2005, when I was making my Fine Arts thesis in Mwanza. I organized a community art project, providing art training to young artists who didn't have a chance to study art in expensive schools. The project resulted in art exhibitions in Tanzania and Finland. The participants also made a comic book. From World Comics I got some good advice and contacts for my project, and I shared my experience with them. After all, grassroots comics is also a form of community art.

What are your experiences of grassroots comics? Do you plan to use grassroots comics in your future activities?

I tutored a grassroots comics workshop for a group of deaf people in Mwanza in June 2009. They felt like grassroots comics is definitely their media, since they have serious problems in communicating with the rest of the community. At the moment I'm tutoring workshops also for the physically disabled, the mentally handicapped and their parents, and for albinos, who have recently faced a fear of being murdered in Tanzania. I believe that grassroots comics can help create awareness in the society and reduce the discrimination towards disabled people. In the future I have plans to organize workshops also for artists and other NGO activists in Mwanza.

Comic

Contact info