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Kaisa Leka

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Kaisa Leka
Kaisa Leka in 2011
Born
Kaisa Maria Leka

(1978-10-25) October 25, 1978 (age 46)
Lahti, Southern Finland
NationalityFinnish
EducationLahti University of Applied Sciences.
Known forcomic artist, graphic designer
Notable work
  • I am not these feet (2003)
  • Your name is Krishangi (2004)
WebsiteKaisa Leka

Kaisa Maria Leka (born October 25, 1978) is a Finnish comic artist and politician from Porvoo. Central themes in Leka's autobiographical comics are disability, politics and spiritual searching. Her comics figures are naïvistically simple animals, the most important of which is a mouse, representing Kaisa herself.[1]

Publications and other works

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Current career as an artist

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Kaisa Leka, works with graphic design as well as comics, mostly layout, for instance for a vegetarian cookbook put together by the Green party's presidential candidate for the 2006 election. Leka has also written a small book about India published by the Helsinki City Art Museum. Along with complete personal works Leka has worked for several magazines and done different smaller projects for a variety of clients. Leka also regularly teaches comics courses and workshops in many different schools. In 2012 she was given the Finnish Comics Society's Puupäähattu award,[2] the most prestigious Finnish award for comic artist. The same year she was also given the Cyclist of the Year Award for the work she's done to promote cycling and cycle travel.[3][4]

Publications

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Leka has published several autobiographical comic books, the most well-known being the 60-page I am not these feet from 2003,[5][6] a diary about learning to walk again after her amputations. It has been translated to French and Italian. In 2004 Leka published Your name is Krishangi,[7] a travel diary from a honeymoon that took an unexpected turn when she and her husband visited a Hindu monastic in the California redwoods. A small comic in two parts named Two stories was published in 2005, and describes a week she spent home alone while her husband was in Ukraine - from both Leka's husband's point of view and Leka's point of view. On the Outside Looking in, published in 2006 deals with Kaisa's childhood and Audarya-Lila, published in 2009, a Finnish friend who moved to Northern California to become a Hindu monk. Leka's two newest books, the 476-page Tour d'Europe (2010)[8] and 288-page Expedition no 3 (2012)[9] describe long cycling trips she's made with her husband.

Leka's comics have also been published in several Finnish magazines, daily newspapers as well as weekly and monthly magazines. The themes are the same even though the format varies: spirituality, disability and politics. Leka's comics have been included in several group exhibitions in Finland, and also at the book fair in Moscow, Russia and comic festival in Amiens, France.

Filmography

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In 2004 as part of her graduate studies at Kemi-Tornio polytechnic Marika Väisänen worked on a short 26min documentary film entitled Koko nainen - Whole woman about Kaisa Leka. It was awarded best student documentary film in one of the biggest short film festivals in Finland. Koko nainen - Whole woman is a documentary portrait about Kaisa, who openly discusses her relationship to her body and the meaning of corporality. After a childhood disrupted by agonising medical procedures, Kaisa had both legs amputated beneath the knee. Now she wears only skirts, drawing attention to the artificial legs that are her statement of identity. She doesn't want to hide her disability but rather show it with pride. How is it to be a disabled woman in a society obsessed with appearances?[10]

Title Produced by Directed by Music by Format Length Year Country Awards
Koko nainen (Whole Woman) Marika Väisänen Marika Väisänen Emmi Knuutinen 24 min 2004 Finland 2005 Hannover Film Festival - Best Student Documentary

References

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  1. ^ Killingbeck, Laura (11 October 2022). "Along the Atlantic Coast on Carbon Legs". Adventure Cycling Association. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  2. ^ "A Finnish comics award". Books from Finland. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  3. ^ "Sarjakuvataiteilija Kaisa Leka valittiin Vuoden pyöräilijäksi" [Cartoonist Kaisa Leka was chosen Cyclist of the Year]. Turun Sanomat (in Finnish). 7 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  4. ^ Dtiz, Jennine (2012). "Limitless: 7 Stories of people who refused to be limited". I Have Resolve Foundation. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  5. ^ Williams, Ian (23 July 2012). "I Am Not These Feet". Graphic Medicine. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
  6. ^ Rautio, Kaisa (2003). I am not these feet: Kaisa's diary 5. Helsinki: Absolute Truth Press. ISBN 9789529160235. OCLC 76864726.
  7. ^ Leka, Kaisa (2004). Your name is Krishangi: a graphic novel. Helsinki: Absolute Truth Press. ISBN 9789529937806. OCLC 58373118.
  8. ^ Leka, Kaisa; Leka, Christoffer (2010). Tour d'Europe. Helsinki: Absolute Truth Press. OCLC 818960022.
  9. ^ Leka, Kaisa; Leka, Chrisoffer (2012). Kaisa & Christoffer Leka's Expedition no 3: Cycling Around Iceland. Helsinki: Absolute Truth Press. ISBN 9789529937899. OCLC 941595321.
  10. ^ "Film: Complete Woman". Retrieved August 10, 2011.
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