MARY SIBANDE: dressed to tell South Africa’s tale
Mary Sibande is one of South Africa’s most talented young artists. For several years, her work has nearly exclusively revolved around Sophie, a servant character created from her personal genealogy (her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother were maids). Sophie’s dark silky skin and her majestic eye-catching blue Victorian dresses turn her into a queen whose eyes … Continue reading
ILONA PELLI: naturally born from materials
I arrived in Helsinki from Brussels/Paris more than ten years ago, the mind full of Belgian/Parisian fashion. At the time, there were very few boutiques in the Finnish capital where I could find wow factor clothes or accessories but for one exception: Ilona Pelli’s. The pureness of her cuts and colours, her branded asymmetrical treatment … Continue reading
TIINA RAEVAARA: where science and surrealism meet
Tiina Raevaara is a novelist and a PhD in genetics and such an unusual combination alone is sufficient to raise interest in her persona and work. Even more compelling is the fact that she started to write only eight years ago and her second opus – a short stories collection – “En tunne sinua vierelläni” (I … Continue reading
KAIJA POIJULA: instantaneous poetical resonances
Kaija Poijula’s is one of those artists whose work causes an instantaneous poetical collision. When I bumped into her “Fortuna” one year ago – and later into “Sleeping beauties” at the Helsinki design museum, I really got fascinated by her virtuoso use of airy and frail dandelions trapped in an elaborate glass and polished wooden structure. … Continue reading
KATI IMMONEN in wonderland: there is war, there are demonstrations
Once upon a time, there was a beautiful young woman called Kati Immonen*. She was an incredibly talented artist who, after experiencing different forms of graphical expression, fell in love with watercolours to which she decided to devote all her skills and imagination. Witty and sparkling, Kati did not want to paint the traditional landscapes … Continue reading
MELEK MAZICI: ”identi-tides” or the subtle rhythm of identities
I am meeting with Melek Mazici[i] at the Kiasma café to the occasion of ”Tidelines” [ii], an exhibition consisting of a unique joint installation she elaborated with Raija Malka (graphical work), Kaija Saariaho (music) and Amin Maalouf (texts) on the theme of identities. At times when a fierce identity debate rages in many European countries, … Continue reading
Pauliina Aarikka: setting the roots of innovative design in own history
When I entered Aarikka’s luminous wooden showroom for her interview, Pauliina was wearing a very elegant yet casual Sonia Rykiel black velvet ensemble combining a classical cut with an innovative touch mixing humour and colour. It struck me that she was naturally embodying her company’s values: simple, classical but equally playful and innovative. Aariikka was founded by your mother, Kaija Aarikka. … Continue reading
ELENA SCHUVALOFF-MAIJALA: the Finnish nature as an icon dedicated to our inner self
If artistry is a process requiring the ability to dig into own life experiences and relentlessly train in own art techniques to reach a deeper level of personal expression, then Elena Schuvaloff-Maijala champions at illustrating this marvelous ability through her genuine, nearly childish, pleasure of painting combined with the discipline of an artisan working on … Continue reading
Elina Aho: body parts freed by movement, inner history and intuition
Elina Aho, an artist and a psychologist, is portraying people or their body parts consistently exploring oil painting textures in an attempt to let a person’s inner story emerge, as her recent exhibition ”Body/images” at Galerie Oljemark demonstrates. We met in her studio in Töölö shortly before the show was to start. – What brought you … Continue reading
Artventures: meet the artists 