In Helsinki, December afternoons arrive and leave quickly, like a visitor without an intention to stay. As temperatures drop well below freezing point, city dwellers refuse to leave their homes as early as 3pm. Many experience Kaamos, a Finnish term for seasonal depression. On an online discussion forum, a business traveler visiting Helsinki writes: “By afternoon, streets and public places are deserted. There are cars on the road, but no people around. Where is everybody?”
The question raised here was a pertinent one. How does a city recalibrate itself when darkness arrives hours before evening? With 2025 coming to a close and everyone seeking new beginnings, people might seek more than just resolutions: perhaps renewal on a personal and cultural level. From the light art of Scandinavia to quiet meditative brushstrokes by Indian and Japanese artists, come with me as I unravel art forms as movements of renewal.
Lux Helsinki: The invocation of light to ward off darkness
Since 2009, the Lux Helsinki art festival has continued to bring joy to its residents and visitors alike by turning the city into one big urban canvas. Here, the potential of light is explored. For Finland, light is more than an aesthetic or decoration; it is a sense of communal victory, a kind of quiet renewal. It is essential to trace recent developments over the years proving why the festival has symbolic importance.
As per data reported in 2024, the festival took place on a large scale, with over 49 installations. Visitors showed up even in the freezing temperatures, wearing up to 19 layers of clothing. In early 2025, the festival attracted a whopping 300,000 visitors. In this coming festive season, there is a larger focus on pausing, and staying with the artwork. This is reflected in its theme—to stop time and breathe with art. There will also be an invaluable addition. Soleil Nuit, a French piece of art, is to occupy a permanent place and shimmer year-round. After enduring the loneliest of winters, people feel a sense of renewal after having visited the intermarriage of light and art.
Internationally, the festival has received sporadic media coverage, yet it continues to attract mass attention. There are several reasons. Each year, the festival features international artists with varied themes. Light, space, and architecture are combined in a careful, designed way to leave visitors with memorable experiences. Light art is an initiation into a larger celebratory framework of new beginnings, marking a successful transition into the new calendar year. A testimony, then, about a glint of hope through and an act of community renewal.
Kakizome: the first brushstroke
In a studio in Japan, an artist grinds Sumi Ink. He holds the calligraphy brush along with the shape he wishes to draw, envisioning his new year. When the right moment arrives, he draws slowly, brushstroke by brushstroke, with rhythm and attention.
On the second of January, elementary schools ask students to engage in this act of the first writing, a mindful way to start their respective years. The brush hovers over the paper and waits for the right start, for the poem to arrive. The final brushstroke is the resolution, the defining act. If the brushstroke doesn’t go as planned, there is a calm acceptance.
Image: Marco Zuppone (Unsplash)
Kakizome is not just a ritual of writing resolutions. It is a reigniting. It is also a way of showing gratitude for the year. Some contemporary practitioners of Kakizome, like Rie Takeda, perform ceremonial acts with new brushes (‘Fudeoroshi’) and new ink sticks (‘Sumioroshi’) to mark the start of the year.
Kakizome travels back a millennium to the Heian period. It was a ceremony of the imperial court, largely popularised among the commoners during the Edo period, due to the prominence of temple schools. It was formally introduced into Japanese schools in the Meiji period. Today, it is a timeless cultural practice that carries symbolic weight and crosses geographies. Institutions like the Canadian Academy through their language education programs also impart cultural training, and act as a medium to actively spread awareness about this ritual. Continuous engagement on a global scale also contributes to concept of renewal.
The purpose of Kakizome is to start well. To ward off the old, as the Finnish people ward off darkness, and to create renewal on a personal level. So is it for Indian miniature artists who keep centuries old traditions alive.
Traditional Indian miniature paintings
In traditional practice, an Indian artist lays paper thin materials on top of one another. He proceeds to grind stones on a stone slab. He waits until the stone is fully ground for the color to appear. He then picks up a brush bent at the tip, preparing himself for the first brushstroke. Artists from Rajasthan and Kangra create impeccable works of miniature art, with precision and mindful focus.
Miniature paintings are generational symbols of renewal, each bespoke with its own distinct style. These paintings travel back in history. Initially commissioned under the patronage of the Rajput Kings, they remain as a living tradition passed down from generation to generation. These paintings have never been static, miniatures have spanned geographies, with artists fluidly adapting their styles, learning from each other.
Image: British Library (Unsplash)
The paintings often have a mythological connection, either based on ancient Indian texts or events that occurred across ancient times that held divine significance. They often impart moral stories across tenets of Hindu philosophy, such as Dharma and Moksha.
One can draw parallels with the Japanese ritual of Kakizome, where the first brushstroke constitutes the first writing of the year. In Kakizome, this initial mark is also the act itself, a singular gesture that completes the ritual even as it begins, imparting direction and composure. In the context of Indian miniature paintings, the first brushstroke is a cartographic act, mapping a route to be followed toward a finished piece of work. Through each creative process, the artist enters into a new cycle, with fresh thematic choices made to the preparation of materials.
When art functions as a ritual of renewal, the experience may be achieved by design or a natural process. The common thread that binds is mindful, interactive engagement with light or brushes to create new experiences. Whether through the first calligraphy in Kakizome, the first brushstroke of a miniature painting, or the pre-planned illumination of Lux Helsinki, there is a recalling of light after a prolonged darkness. Each practice is a new beginning, offering a sense of communal revival.
Author bio: Anupama Vernekar is a writer and poet from Mumbai, India. Curious about culture, memory and stories that shape everyday life, she explores narratives across these realms. Her poem “After the Harvest” has appeared in Scribbled Online.
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