Maija Karhunen receives the Vimma Culture Award given by the Threshold Association

The Threshold Association has awarded the eighth Vimma Disability Culture Award to dancer Maija Karhunen (the word ‘Vimma’ means passion in Finnish). The award includes a grant of 5,000 euro granted by the Tukilinja magazine. The honorary awards were given to dancer Sally Davison and author Tommi Kinnunen.

The Threshold Association is a cross-disability organization. Vimma Award is given yearly to an artist who has found new perspectives to disability issues in his/her artistic work. The aim is to award art that has brought forward disability issues and aroused positive interest with its quality. The  work can be a representative of any field of art.

The jury acknowledged especially the work of Karhunen in lauded dance piece “Hafed – kollaasi eroista ja haureudesta”. In this piece, the body of the disabled dancer is at the core of the art work thanks to the strong presence of Karhunen. The jury believes that the professionality and artistic skills of Karhunen will also create space for other disabled artists in the Finnish dance field.

Sally Davison received an honorary Vimma for her pioneering work with integrated dance. Author Tommi Kinnunen was awarded for the creditable description of disability in his novel Lopotti (2016).