Welcome to the exhibition opening on Thursday 28 March from 5–7 pm! Emilia Niskasaari will be present at the gallery on Sunday 7 April between 2–4 pm and on Sunday 21 April between 2–4 pm.

My exhibition consists of a series of small bronze sculptures. The sculptures are heads shaped into sticks, which can be thought of, for example, as captured stories or as authentic characters in which the life lived can be seen. With their shaggies of hair, tufts and other individual features, they embody the diversity of humanity, which I believe the world should embrace and not try to exclude. I think of the world as a whole, as a network: despite our differences, we are all one, cast from the same substance.

The small size of the sculptures invites the viewer to look at them up close. The smallness of the works also reflects human imperfection and, on the other hand, a caressing sympathy: we trudge on with our abilities and strengths, relying on each other and sometimes losing connection.

The sculptures are primarily made of bronze. During the process of making moulds of the works, I have added parts of plants and other found elements to some of them, which, when cast in bronze, have become part of the sculptures. In some of the works, I have subsequently added, for example, copper wire. I fired the moulds and melted the bronze using home-made kilns – in a winter freeze, under snow-covered spruces.

-Emilia Niskasaari

The exhibition is supported by the Greta och Alfred Runebergs Stiftelse Foundation, with thanks to friends and family for their help in making this exhibition possible.

Emilia Niskasaari (b.1981) is a visual artist living and working in Helsinki. She works mainly with sculpture, using a variety of materials and techniques, which often form an integral part of the content of her works. The materials can be new or found. Niskasaari combines figurative and abstract forms in her sculptures to create sculptural series and spatial ensembles. Niskasaari graduated from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts and the Department of Sculpture in 2018. She has held solo exhibitions and participated in several group exhibitions.