MA Nina Kokkinen
Nina Kokkinen has worked as an MA (art & design) researcher in religious studies from the beginning of 2007. Her doctoral thesis is concerned with the notions of art and religion at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. The research focuses on the esoteric-spiritual discourses – both written and visualized – that Finnish painters used as they tried to manage in the pressure of the rising nation-state and new religious atmosphere: the occulture of Fin-de-Siècle. The research project has been funded by Graduate School of Cultural Interpretation and The Emil Aaltonen Foundation.
Nina graduated in 2004 from the University of Lapland, where her major subject was audiovisual media culture. She also spent time studying art history, cultural history, graphic design and information technology. In her master thesis Nina analysed Disney's Fantasia-animation film (1940) from the mythical -psychological perspective. From 2003 onwards she has widened her education in University of Turku, where her major subject has been religious studies. Studies of art history and visual culture have also been continued in Turku. At the moment her main areas of interest include the (conceptual) relation of art and religion, methodology of religious studies and art history, western esotericism and "new spirituality", as well as illustrations of myth and fairytale.
In addition to her position as a researcher, Nina has served as a part-time lecturer in the university of Turku. She has also worked as consult and designer in different areas of cultural production, and as photographer and graphic designer. From 2009 onwards Nina has took part in several projects of the 876 Shades of Darkness, which is included in Turku 2011 – European Capital of Culture programme. During the fall 2011 she worked as an artist in charge in the Camera Sacra & Mala -project, which aims to re-evaluate the meanings of sacred and evil. Nina enjoys working in such liminal areas (in between art and science, or scientific and popular) as she believes, that inspiration and insight can often be found near the guarded borders.