Statement: 

Participating in the International Exhibition is a cultural experience. Each of us learns to understand the others and the values they hold dear. It is a way of learning from and sharing with others who have different backgrounds and perspectives. For artists, culture exchange is a powerful tool for developing their professional career and gaining valuable artistic experience through creating new forms of artistic expression, expanding new networks, and promoting our concerns and interests such as respecting the environment.///

Environment is one of the most important concerns of contemporary artists. Finland has a unique and beautiful nature, which is intertwined with people's life, their history and rich culture. Finnish artists are very influenced by nature and you can always find traces of their friendly environment in their artworks. In this exhibition, we can see the artworks of artists who either used nature as a source of inspiration, or used the visual aspects of their surroundings in creating their works which dealt with important environmental issues with a critical eye.

Aknoon art gallery in collaboration with Academy of the Arts Helsinki and Embassy of The Republic of Finland in Iran invited selected Finnish artists who are studying or recently graduated from the Fine Arts Academy to display their artworks in the field of Contemporary art. This exhibition is curated by Maryam Sajedi; Iranian artist and the MA student at Uniarts Helsinki. This group exhibition will be held at four galleries in different cultural cities in Iran: Isfahan, Tehran, Shiraz,Kashan and Yazd. The first exhibition at Aknoon Art gallery will display on 23 June – 5 July 2023 and the other exhibition will be until the end of 2023.

This exhibition displays 6 Finnish artists’s artworks. 

Annele Lahti,

Annele Lahti is a visual artist and a printmaker from Järvenpää, Finland who is currently completing her MFA studies in the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki. Lahti mainly uses printmaking techniques and is fascinated by the possibilities of endlessly making different variations.

Alongside printmaking processes, she is interested in moving between different media and art forms, such as photography, a medium typically at the starting point for her working methods. Lately Lahti has been working with a technique called polymer photogravure. In this intaglio method halftones and ultraviolet light create an image on the photosensitive polymer plate.

Lahti’s primary source of inspiration comes from exploring human relationships and interactions with others and the environment. Her recent artworks represent nature and its beautiful detail while at the same time speak about the environmental issues such as pollution, resource depletion and climate change.

Lauri Lahteenmaki,

Lauri Lähteenmäki (1992), based in Helsinki, Finland, is a fine artist and an environmental expert who approaches the drastically changing ecological condition through art-making. Lähteenmäki has degrees in Environmental Change and Policy (MSc., 2020) from the University of Helsinki and Bachelor of Fine Arts (2021) from the Academy of Fine Art, Helsinki, where he will soon graduate as a Master of Fine Arts.

Lähteenmäki’s artworks have been exhibited in various galleries and venues. In 2022, he had a solo exhibition (Suomaa / Bogland) and published an extensive art photography book (Vihreän kullan kuume / Green Gold Fever). Lähteenmäki’s artworks have been acquired to the collections of Oulu Museum and Science Center Luuppi, Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, and private collectors.

As a photographer, his commissioned works include more than ten magazines and publications, e.g. Millelaghi sogni e segreti, Rome, Italy (2009), and Europa magazine (European Commission Assembly in Finland) (2012). Beside doing art, Lähteenmäki has worked in a research team of Russia’s environmental and energy politics at the Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki, Finland.

Miina Aho,

Miina Aho (b. 1990) is a Helsinki-based visual artist whose work is based on reflecting on the meanings of the medium, time and material. Her works are centered around what is created at the interface between drawing and serigraphy, providing a platform for exploring repetition and color. The recent works have been inspired by playing with the measures and spaciousness of a trace.

Aho graduated as a Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in the spring of 2022. She is a member of Kalasataman seripaja ry and the Association of Finnish Printmakers. Aho’s works have been on display at various solo and group exhibitions in Finland and abroad and also they’ve been purchased to many public and private collections. At the moment Aho is working with commissioned public art work and with her upcoming solo exhibitions. 

Niina Pietarinen and Mira Vornanen,

Niina Pietarinen (b. 1990) and Mira Vornanen (b. 1990) met while studying photography at the Turku University of Applied Sciences Arts Academy in 2015. Pietarinen is currently completing a master's degree in photography at Aalto University and Vornanen is studying Printmaking at Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. The images of Retkellä – Field trips -project have been created by coincidence and play.

Films that have already been exposed once have been changed and exposed again. When two different moments come together in double exposure it creates a new world that doesn’t really exist. There are four pictures on display, each picture representing its own season.

Sofia Vuorenmaa,

Sofia Vuorenmaa (b.2001) is a Helsinki based artist, currently studying in the printmaking department at the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki. Her background is in drawing, and for the past few years she has focused on printmaking, mainly on lithography and intaglio techniques. Also analogue photography and publications interest her.

Vuorenmaa’s artistic practice is centered on observing the landscape, seashore, and sea. She spends a lot of time walking by the sea and writing about what she perceives; what is happening in the silent interaction between her and the place. Observations about colors, movement, sensations, and natural phenomena usually are the starting points for the work process. The nature of the materials and printmaking techniques she uses also have a strong effect on processing the thematic ideas.

The main objective of this exhibition is to promote the direct and dynamic exchange of opinions and experience at the international level to develop creativity in the area of art and culture. The outcome of this measure is to support artists and their presentation within international cultural cooperation as well as the involvement of artists in international networks. Furthermore, visitors create new points of view and learn how to connect and interact with people from other cultures through their artistic expression.