A lecture based on photos from Sanna Karlsson-Sutisna (painter, sculptor and dancer from Finland). See www.karlsson-sutisna.com

Background: Sanna Karlssn-Sutisna lived, studied and worked as artist in dance, painting and sculpture in Bali and she is mother of a Finnish-Balinese child. In 1996 she founded a small Balinese dance & theatre group in Finland and gives lectures about Balinese culture and performs dance. She was herself involved in the daily life and in rituals in Bali (tooth filing, etc), this also through her children. Her life experiences, the nature and her multi culture children are the source of her art; her most important teachers.

Sanna Karlsson-Sutisna describes in her lecture: How is a life-existence and baby/childhood in the middle of myths and rituals. It is very important to see the richness of the earth and that the differences are potencies. The multiplicity can give us more imagination and new ideas how to structure the own life and babies lives in harmony.

Some main questions and ideas behind this lecture (They are also themes of her artwork and life research) were:
Babies are “holy” in the way that they are open for everything without judgment. This is something valuable to keep alive in adults too. A child is a wonderful open book.
Do the Balinese’s babies experience the life from a different point of view than the western one’s?
How is the invisible world of a Balinese child, what is the small children’s invisible world, that the culture tells the child through mythologies, art, believes…?
How different do we see the world and live the life but how similar are the basic mythologies and basic needs and growing up of the human beings?
Is it we who would need more sagas and myths and art, living in our western everyday life, is it this that makes our life deeper and more meaningful, gives us roots and gives space for our feelings?

Rituals and lifestyle  


(Satria’s 3 Month ceremony.)

He is allowed for the first time to touch the earth with his feet. He gets his bracelets, showing that his parents will be taking care about his beauty. He will be washed so that his hygiene will be taken care of and he will be protected from the negative (black magic, sicknesses etc). See the bird in the picture.

As Satria was born, the Balinese grandmother asked, like usual a reincarnationspecialist ”who is he?” In Bali they believe that they will be reincarnated again in the same family. Her grandson was actually his grand-grand grandmother.

Their believes are the reason that there are hundreds of rituals, also for the ancestors and plenty of rituals for small babies. There are rituals for everyday life (daily small offerings), personal rituals that follow up your growth and the changes in your life, and there are rituals for important objects like paper, a new car. And the temple rituals, the every year rituals like for example New Year.

Thus the whole Balinese (everyday) life and culture is based on rituals and is the most important thing in a Balinese life. However it is more a lifestyle than only a religion, based on very old animistic, Buddhist and Hindu traditions.

How is the life from such a point of view?

The Babies in everyday life and art



The mother is feeding her child from the porridge plate on her head and discussing with the neighbours in front of her house.

The babies are involved in the life and work of the mothers and the families, it is not as separated as here in Europe. For example:

The babies come together with their mothers and families to see old traditional performances and take part in the rituals. Since it is used to rituals, masks and sounds are not scaring the baby. In Bali the art is a part of everyday life and part of the rituals. However they cannot walk the parents like to teach the children Balinese dance, beginning with the hand movements.Young guys like to take the 2-3 year old children around in the neighborhood using motorbikes.

www.karlsson-sutisna.com