Katja Tukiainen, an award-winning visual artist, painter, comic artist, and Doctor of Fine Arts with an extensive international career, has been appointed curator of the 2027 Mänttä Art Festival. Known as a rebel in the art world, she has fearlessly placed girlhood and cuteness at the heart of her artistic practice.
Tukiainen has a long-standing and close relationship with the Mänttä Art Festival. She has exhibited at the Festival twice, for the first time in 2001.
“For me, the Mänttä Art Festival served as a true art academy experience. There, I had the opportunity to see how such an enormous exhibition programme is born. I also experienced first-hand the respect the Festival has for artists and our work. When I received a call a year ago inviting me to curate the Festival, I accepted immediately. The invitation is a tremendous honour. I’m really excited about the role, and I also feel a great sense of responsibility,” says Tukiainen.
“What inspires me about art is its freedom. When I make art, I feel no fear: within its framework, I can do whatever I want, including questioning established hierarchies. I’ve worked hard to make words like ‘cuteness’ and ‘sweetness’ more widely accepted in visual art. I’ve never been afraid of humour or wildness, either. A work can be intelligent and witty while also being beautiful and thought-provoking. Depending on the situation, my works may comment on a serious human rights issue or simply depict landscapes.”
“I always correct people when they try to pigeonhole me as either a comic artist or a painter. In my work, the two fields happily overlap. When I create comics, I question the conventions of the medium; when I paint, I challenge painting traditions. When I was a first grader, my teacher told my mum that I was bound to become an artist because I was always saying, ‘I do things my own way’,” Tukiainen recalls.
“My studies at the Venice Academy of Fine Arts in the mid-1990s were an important phase for me. Being away from home allowed me to break free from many expectations and forge my own path with confidence. Eventually, my art studies led to a PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts in 2022. The title of my thesis was ‘The Girl Army – Narrative painting in space’. This year marks the 30th anniversary of my first girl-themed exhibition. Perhaps this shows that even though I’m getting older, in art, time is in a way irrelevant.”
“Working as a curator has been a visual feast. As I’ve wandered through various exhibitions, I’ve felt like an immensely rich collector. When I secure a wonderful piece for the Festival, it almost feels as if I’m acquiring it for myself. It feels wonderful and inspiring to offer artists the opportunity to showcase their magnificent works to a broad art audience.”
“For the 2027 summer exhibition I’ve invited artists whose work fills me with a sense of wonder. I can lose myself in their work and become enchanted it. What unites them all is the courage to follow their own path. The line-up includes artists of all ages, from students to established masters, and the programme will offer both wild aesthetics and serene, contemplative spaces.”
“I hope next summer’s exhibition will enchant visitors and allow them to lose themselves for a moment in its magical world. I also wish for the exhibition to inspire visitors in their own creative endeavours – whatever they might be. Of course, I would like the exhibition to bring more peace and love to the world!” says Tukiainen.
