Exhibitions

ARS Project Space
24.10.–15.11.2025
Mon–Fri 12:00–18:00, Sat 12:00–16:00

Exhibition opening: Friday, 24 October at 18:00

Sten Saarits’ solo exhibition ‘Absentia’ presents a trilogy of video works: The Wait (2020), The Stream (2022), and The Browse (2023), all connected by a sense of tension. A person no longer recognizes their world – they observe it, not with the curiosity of the first inhabitant of a new planet, but as a shadow of former glory who has given up on existence.

In Saarits’ works, we find ourselves in the spaces of contemporary life. The cold, alienating places where one can feel lonely even in the company of others. A fleeting friendly glance has been replaced by an awkward search of avoiding direct eye contact. Instead of a spontaneous and likely refreshing conversation, the hand instinctively reaches for the phone.

Saarits is a documentary maker who takes his camera for a walk. He captures the post-apocalyptic qualities of our surroundings. Such as an empty bus stop, a nighttime highway, an autumn field – yet within his frames there remains a palpable human warmth and a sincere concern for his subjects.

Sten Saarits (b. 1987) is an interdisciplinary artist from Estonia whose practice is rooted in time based media. Saarits frequently integrates abstract sound compositions ranging from spoken word to auditory signifiers into his installation practice, thereby creating participatory and spatial experiences. His artistic research often addresses phenomena of overstimulation and situational uncertainty as characteristic aspects of present day society.

He has studied sound art (MA) and installation and sculpture (BA) in Estonian Academy of Arts. During the years of 2013–2014 he studied in the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where his curriculum focused on sound art, performance and film. Saarits has shown his work in Estonia, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Denmark, France and Lithuania. He currently serves as Head of the Department of New Media Arts at the Estonian Academy of Arts.

Graphic design: Kert Viiart-Õllek
Text: Peeter Kormašov
Installation assistance: Ian Simon Märjama
Artist wants to thank: Egle Ehtjen, Erko Ever, Ian Simon Märjama, Kalev Saage, Kristjan Koskor, Madli Kadakas, Markus Tiitus, Mart Joost, Martin Loik, Natalia Wójcik, Tarvo Varres, Tiina Vändre, Mirjam Proos, Sven Sosnitski, Janno Lepind, Kelli Gedvil, Hanna-Liisa Lavonen, Alo Suursaar, Carmen Kalata, Kati Müüripeal, Kristen Rästas, Heini Kiis, Lauri Aksel.
Exhibition supported by: Estonian Artists’ Association and the Cultural Endowment of Estonia

We are opening the exhibition “Abandoned Landscapes. Joaveski Paper Factory” on October 31st at 3:00 PM at the Joaveski Community Center, at Lahemaa.

The exhibition presents projects and models by students of the EKA Architecture and Urban Design curriculum, which explore how to value and revitalize the historic Joaveski paper factory.

The Estonian Academy of Arts’ Faculty of Architecture and the Department of Heritage Protection and Conservation organized the interdisciplinary “Abandoned Landscapes” workshop for the fourteenth time at the beginning of this year, where efforts are being made to find modern solutions for disused building complexes. This year’s workshop, professional studio and exhibition were created in collaboration with the Joaveski Village NPO, which has taken it upon itself to value the abandoned paper factory as a landmark.

The authors of the completed projects are now 3rd year architecture and urban design students: Maria Johanna Ahtijainen, Oskar Toomet-Björck, Elisabeth Ersling, Nele Lisette Hera, Heidi Jagus, Katariina Klammer, Eliis Kurvits, Lilian Källo, Lisandra Lipp, Marie Elle Melioranski, Mark Metsa, Mart Nael, Joonas Ott, Elenor Pihlak, Harriet Piirmets, Robin Pints, Elisabeth Tomingas, Katariina Vaher, Aliis Vatku, Martin Vatku.

The projects were supervised by architects Joel Kopli, Koit Ojaliiv and Juhan Rohtla from the architectural office KUU, advised by LCA consultant Anni Oviir, and the landscape architecture section was supervised by Katrin Koov and Arvi Anderson. Andres Õis welcomed and introduced the history of Joaveski.

The exhibition is supported by MTÜ Joaveski küla and AS Maru.

The exhibition will remain open at the Joaveski community center during library opening hours until April 1, 2026. Open Monday and Friday 9:00 – 16:00 and Wednesday 11:00 – 15:00.

About the history of the Joaveski factory

The construction of the Joaveski cardboard factory began in 1899 and is a vivid example of how the feudal Loobu manor adapted to the new capitalist economic environment at the end of the 19th century, which resulted in the establishment of an industrial enterprise. Joaveski developed into a small industrial village in a place of natural beauty. Today, a hydroelectric power plant operates at the heart of the factory, but most of the rooms have lost their purpose.

Merike Estna’s solo exhibition “Ocean” in the large gallery of the Tartu Art House. The curator of the exhibition is Maria Arusoo.

At the core of the exhibition “Ocean” lies the existential coexistence of life and death, as seen through the perspective of motherhood. Merike Estna looks at the experience of motherhood in a complex and sensitive way. Alongside oceanic happiness and love, pain and loss are equally present, themes that are often brushed aside when talking about birth and motherhood but are very much present regardless. 

“Birth as a theme appeared in Estna’s work after her son was born and over the last four years it has become a central axis in her work. At first, it appeared as a prophetic ghost in a painting, created while the artist herself was not yet aware of her pregnancy and from there, it has grown and expanded. Estna is equally interested in the art historical view on the experience of motherhood. Another significant thematic thread running through the exhibition is the question of living painting – how to awaken painting, a rather static and hierarchical object, and make it communicate with the viewer – something Estna has been focusing on for more than a decade by now. At the Tartu Art House exhibition, visitors can witness the process of painting the five-part monumental work “Ocean” as the artist works on it every Tuesday. The painting is not intended to be completed but will be continuously added to during future exhibitions until the artist’s death, as Estna herself claims,” the curator explains.

Merike Estna (b. 1980) studied painting at the Estonian Academy of Arts (BA, 2005) and at Goldsmiths, University of London (MFA, 2009). She also graduated from the Tartu Art School (2000). Since 2025, she is the visiting professor in Contemporary Art MA at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Estna has received several prestigious Estonian art awards, including the Hansapank Art Award (2004), the Eduard Wiiralt Scholarship (2005) and the Konrad Mägi Award (2014). From 2017 to 2023, she was an Associate Professor at the Painting Department at the Estonian Academy of Arts. Between 2020 and 2022, Estna was one of the recipients of the Estonian artist’s salary. In 2026, Merike Estna will represent Estonia at the 61st Venice Biennale.

Estna has participated in international exhibitions across Europe, the United States and Latin America, including at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Querétaro in Mexico, Fundación Casa Wabi in Mexico, Publics in Helsinki, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Galería Karen Huber in Mexico, Bosse & Baum in London, Kunstraum in London, Galerie Georg Kargl in Vienna and Temnikova & Kasela Gallery in Tallinn. Her most notable solo exhibitions have taken place at Kai Art Center in Tallinn (2022), Moderna Museet Malmö (2019–2020), Kim? Contemporary Art Centre in Riga (2018) and KUMU Art Museum in Tallinn (2014).

Graphic designer: Martina Gofman
Translator: Keiu Krikmann

Support: Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art

Thank you: Evelyn Raudsepp, Jaime Lobato, Aime Estna, Kõu Fortino Lobato Estna, Lumi Marisol Lobato Estna, Alma Cardoso, Jaime L. Hernández, Aleksander Tsapov

COMPOSE◠DECOMPOSE
EKA Gallery 31.10.–30.11.2025
Open Tue–Sat 12–6 pm Sun 12–4 pm
Opening: Thursday, October 30 at 6 pm
Performance by Albertina Tevajärvi: Thursday, October 30 at 6.30 pm
Tour guided by the curators and artists: Friday, October 31 at 5 pm

The exhibition “compose◠decompose” submerges deep into a cyclical narrative of growth, decay, and renewal. Through the works of thirteen artists, the exhibition traces along the fragile balance of care and control.

The exhibition brings to light the hidden and often overlooked elements of our ecosystem— microscopic creatures, plant matter and organic systems that thrive beneath the surface of our mundane. Here Composition and decomposition do not appear as opposites, but rather as entangled acts of shaping and unshaping, of tending and of letting go.

The participating artists work with various ways to either mimic- or closely collaborate with the processes of the natural world. In this exhibition the artists dream about composing and decomposing. They dream about listening to, remembering and reimagining narratives that collaborate with insects, animals, plants, and microorganisms.

Participating artists: Alexis Brancaz, Albertina Tevajärvi, Alma Bektas, Augustas Lapinskas & Ditiya Ferdous, Freyja Tralla & Kassandra Laur, Janne Schipper & Andreas Andersen, Johanna Rotko, Julie Sjöfn Gasiglia, Kamilė Pikelytė, Paula Zvane
Curated by artists Inessa Saarits and Victoria Björk
Graphic design: Daria Titova
Technical support: Karel Koplimets and Karmo Migur
Supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Icelandic Visual Arts Fund, Sadolin Estonia and Tallinn City.
Opening drinks from mirai™ and Põhjala Brewery.

Download the leaflet here.

Julia Maria Künnap, “Travelling Light. A Study on the Movement of Light in Experimentally Cut Gemstones”

EKA Library 21.10-4.11.2025

This artistic research explores the fundamental principle of gemstone faceting — the refraction and reflection of light – in the combination of faceted and freeform elements. The aim of the exhibition is to demonstrate how individual reflective elements, through their mutual interaction, create the brilliance of a gemstone. To illustrate this theory, the exhibition presents both work in process and finished gems set in jewelry. The Exhibition is the First Creative Project of Doctoral Thesis “Playing with fire. Possibilities for designing four-dimensional gemstones by combining traditional faceting and free-form engraving. Time as a design element.” Supervisor Prof Krista Kodres

Julia Maria Künnap is a PhD student and junior researcher in Art and Design.

On October 16, Narva Art Residency will host the largest international fashion exhibition in Narva to date, “Hõimulõim (Tribal Thread),” led by the Fashion Design Department. The exhibition will open as part of the official program of “Narva Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2025” and will take place during the most important week of the tribal peoples’ calendar year, Tribal Week.

“Hõimulõim” is an exhibition that weaves Finno-Ugric tradition into contemporary fashion design. It is a tribute to a rich heritage, the survival of which depends on how skillfully we can bring it into our lives today. Tradition does not remain in a closet or archive – it only lives if we let it grow with time, wear it and love it.

The exhibition features the work of designers from nine Finno-Ugric peoples. The works of Sami, Khanty, Udmurt, Mari, Komi, Hungarian, Karelian, Finnish (including Ingrian) and Estonian (including Seto and Võro) creators highlight that clothing can be both a practical object and a carrier of identity and collective memory. Each author asks in their own way what it means to be a Finno-Ugric designer in the 21st century – how to weave one’s tradition into a modern form and what to tell the world about its multi-layered field of meaning. These works also open up ethical choices: what material to use, how to preserve local skills and how to tell the story of one’s people in a way that creates a dialogue even for those who were not born into this cultural space.

The “tribal thread” (hõimulõim) is an invisible but tenacious bond between Finno-Ugric peoples. It does not ask for national borders or political sentiment, but runs deep in the undercurrents – in language, patterns, songs, dance and beliefs”, says the exhibition curator Piret Puppart and adds: “In today’s world, where the song of some peoples is quieter than ever before and the weavers of many patterns have become isolated, this thread between tribal peoples is particularly fragile.”

Various social tensions are increasingly testing the survival of traditions and forcing us to look for ways to keep them alive for future generations. “Hõimulõim” invites us to notice that preserving culture is not only about preserving the past, but also about creating the future. It is an invitation to wear our heritage on a daily basis – be it a piece of jewelry, an object or an ornament – ​​and to understand that every such choice strengthens the thread that connects us across borders and eras.

The exhibition’s interactive, technologically innovative experiences are also exciting. Visitors can discover patterns hidden in dresses created by Piret Puppart using magnets, as well as experience a hologram waterfall dedicated to the world of Votian patterns designed by artist Alyona Movko-Mägi. Hologram art is a little-known technique in the world of conjuring visual elements that cannot be touched with the hand, but can be touched virtually and with the eye. This is the first time this medium is coming to Narva in such a volume.

Finno-Ugric roots also have a wider international reach in the world of design and art than one might think. The Komi compass pattern has found its way into Kandinsky’s paintings, and Udmurt mannerisms into Tchaikovsky’s music. However, only recently was a designer with Karelian roots awarded the Diesel Design Award, while Izhor blood has dressed Estonian Olympic athletes in Athens. The representative of the Mari nationality was behind the knitting collections of the legendary Estonian brand Mosaic for years, and when wearing Adidas shoes, you can feel the Udmurt heart. The Diesel Design Award-winning collection and the best pieces from Helsinki Design Week are also coming to the exhibition that will open soon. The exhibition can be visited until January 11.

Curator: Piret Puppart

Artists: Antrea Kantakoski, vainio.seitonen (Johanna Vainio & Merja Seitsonen), Sigrid Kuusk, Ramona Salo, Dina Andreeva, Natalja Lill, Darali Leli, Eneken Johanson, Stella Tukia, Kaia Kuusmann, Zsófia Papp, Zsófia Papp, Maria Roosiaas, Hanna-Tiina Pekk, Anneliis Reili, Kertu Kivisik, Nadežda Kasatkina, Lana Vakhovska, Karl Joonas Alamaa, Piret Puppart and Alyona Movko-Mägi 

Graphic design: Eva Sepping

Many thanks: Anna Kuznetsova, Muš Nadii, Nikolai Anisimov, Nikolay Kuznetsov, Barbi Pilvre, Jaak Prozes, Žanna Toht, Ekaterina Kuznetsova, Helena Schilf, Natalia Ermakov

Supporters: Estonian Academy of Arts, Fashion Design Department, Tribal Peoples Program, Cultural Endowment, NGO Fenno-Ugria, NART, Narva Finno-Ugric Capital of Culture 2025

On Thursday, 16th of October at 6 pm, Kristel Saan’s solo exhibition “Scent of Humans” will open at Vaal Gallery.

The exhibition will remain open until 15th of November, Tue–Fri 12–6 pm and Sat 12–4 pm.

The exhibition “Scent of Humans” speaks of how our nose is always the primary introducer to our feelings. It gives us the initial information about whether we stay or move on whether we like something or are we reluctant to it, and ultimately determines our memories.

In our brain, smells and emotions are recorded as one memory. Therefore, childhood plays an important role in the formation of our smells, based on which we make decisions basically for the rest of our lives. So it is no wonder that the freshly mowed lawn brings to mind the grandparents and the scent of childhood cottage or the smell of clean linens, hot summer laundry day and the vastness of the World playing inside it.

“Scent of Humans” speaks of the journey and the memories and experiences in its way, and how everything that follows can only be built on its shoulders. The exhibition takes baby steps back to childhood, so as not to disturb the past too much, where it puts different generations to sit down together for a moment and lose the hierarchy. The works also reflect movement between cities, cultures, and countries, as well as movement through time and age, in a search of a place where one might perhaps linger a little longer.

The exhibition “Scent of Human” is curated by Merilin Talumaa.
The exhibition is supported by Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Pühaste Brewery, Lo Alto.

Kristel Saan (b 1985) is an artist living and working in Estonia. Her practice includes large-scale installations, ceramics, textile and painting, photography and video works. The work of the artist is often reminiscent of a wide variety of imaginary places where poetry and various unexpected organic materials intertwine, through which the perception of object, material and space becomes one of the fundamental aspects of his work. During the work process, both bodily sensations and the relationship between the body and the surrounding environment are the focus of the artist’s attention. Kristel Saan has obtained a bachelor’s and master’s degree in ceramics from the Faculty of Design of the Estonian Academy of Arts. In addition, she has studied fine arts at Central Saint Martins in London, visual arts during her master’s studies at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada, and sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States.

Merilin Talumaa (b 1986) is a curator and cultural manager who lives and works in Paris and Tallinn. She has graduated from the Department of Art History and Visual Culture at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She is also a graduate of Environmental studies from University of Tartu. Her practice has evolved around research about artists’ studio and work environments and notions of migration and belonging. Her recent on-going projects include Roots to Routes (since 2020) – a curatorial initiative gathering a community of artists, curators and cultural producers from Baltic states. Prior to the book „Your Time Is My Time”, Mousse Publishing, 2023, she compiled and edited the book „Artists’ spaces : 16 studio visits”, Estonian Academy of Arts Press, 2017 (both together with Annika Toots).

Gardens: Tanja Muravskaja and Light
05.09 – 31.10.2025
Open:
Wed–Sat 13:00–19:00
Free entrance
Limited wheelchair access

Public Programme:
13.09, 14:00 Guided tour (in Estonian)
20.09, 14:00 Artist talk (in Estonian)

The exhibition is part of the main programme of the 8th Tallinn Photomonth

Tanja Muravskaja’s new work Gardens explores the boundaries between reality and image, as she gives the organic and living a fixed form, materialised through photography. Working with water as a real (source) material serves as a strategy for slowing down and so offering a counterpoint to the automated visual flows of the digital age. The individual photographs in the series are not mere visual images but events captured at the moment of their occurrence, when light and time turn into physical matter.

The display immerses the viewer in an experience of phenomenological presence, as their attention moves from recognition of the form to the sensual and sensory perception of the material. The series is an invite for “slow contemplation”, through which it explores the liminal areas between the visible and the invisible before guiding the viewer back to a

heightened state of physical presence and perception of the world.

The project was born from professional memory and developed into an independent statement on the intersection of institutional conditions, architecture and the artist’s perspective. All the photographs in the exhibition were printed by the artist herself, a process that allowed her to take full control of the paper’s nuances of texture and colour while also becoming an inherent extension of the artist’s observations and their results captured on camera.

Tanja Muravskaja (b. 1978 in Pärnu, lives and works in Tallinn) is an esteemed Estonian artist whose work focuses on questions of identity, collective and personal memory, and social boundaries.

Muravskaja graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with a BA and, later, a Master’s in photography. She also studied photography at the University of Westminster in London, where she spent an exchange year. Her analytical and psychological approach sheds light on themes related to internal tensions and a sense of belonging, both on an individual and a social level.

Muravskaja’s works – including her principal photographic series Positions, Estonian Race, They Who Sang Together, Self-portrait with the Estonian Flag and various video works – are part of the collections of the Art Museum of Estonia, Tartu Art Museum and multiple private collections, reflecting the significant place she has in Estonian art history. She has had solo exhibitions at Tensta Konsthall (Stockholm), WIELS (Brussels) and Tartu Art Museum. She has also participated in various international exhibitions, including at EMST at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Athens), MOCAK (Kraków), the Art Encounters Biennial (Timișoara), the GIBCA Biennial (Gothenburg), Ludwig Museum (Budapest), MACRO  (Rome), and Kiasma (Helsinki). She has received various accolades, including the Köler Prize Grand Prix (2018) and the Order of the White Star, 5th class, bestowed by the President of the Republic of Estonia (2019).

Exhibition designer: Jevgeni Zolotko Consultant: Elnara Taidre
Installation: Mihkel Lember
Graphic designer: Kert Viiart-Õllek

Thanks to:
Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonian Artists’ Association, Hedi Jaansoo, Kai Art Center, Laur Kivistik, Anna Loginov, Vladimir Loginov, Taavi Rekkaro, Sirje Runge, Mėta Valiušaitytė, Ellington Printing & Production, Veiko Illiste

Curated by Šelda Puķīte

3.10.2025 — 22.11.2025

OPENING
3 October at 18.00
Performance by лäбипõленуд (laebipoelenud). Read more below

CALL TO PARTICIPATE
Maria Kapajeva engages with women with BRCA1/2 mutations or breast cancer and will host a queer community gathering to expand her two new works. Read more below

To this day, a woman’s body – its pain, illness and lived experience – is often treated as other, constrained by rigid gender norms and medical bias. Rather than embracing the complexity of womanhood, society continues to mystify and objectify women, reducing them to narrowly defined roles. In her solo exhibition By Losing Them, I Become a Whole*, Maria Kapajeva draws on her recent physical transformation and ongoing healing process to explore identity politics, womanhood and queer embodiment. It marks the first chapter of a new body of work – one that begins in loss but unfolds through tenderness, resilience and radical self-connection.

Kapajeva inherited the same genetic risk as her late grandmother, who died of cancer at the age of 49 – the same age the artist will reach later this year. As a result, she underwent two preventive surgeries: an oophorectomy and a mastectomy. With the removal of body parts so often defined by patriarchal society as essential to womanhood, she now navigates questions about how these changes might empower her identity as a queer woman – and whether these deeply personal interventions have granted her the chance at a longer life, a future once denied to her grandmother.

Known for working with image culture, photography and video – often incorporating crafts and elements from public and domestic spheres – Kapajeva explores her journey through a range of media. In the photographic series A Portrait of a Woman, she stages a visual narrative of transformation and embodied change, offering a farewell to her menstrual cycle. This is echoed in the video work Period. Period, which signifies the end of her reproductive stage. The healing process – marked by the management of bodily fluids and intimate, repetitive procedures – is also part of this exploration. The journey culminates in a fearless portrait of her post-surgery body, referencing Sarah Lucas’ Self Portrait with Fried Eggs (1996), though here, the eggs remain on the plate.

Before surgery, Kapajeva created a series of images, prints and casts of her breasts – leaving behind emotional imprints of what once was. In the series Parts of Me, Not, scanned images of her breasts are abstracted into a space where they exist independently from the body. In another gesture, she prints their forms onto limited-edition T-shirts, offering others the symbolic opportunity to wear them. Reimagined as form-filling entities, the breasts are also cast in clay as hanging bell-shaped sculptures titled The Transformation of Silence. The fleshy materiality and earthy tones of the clay, combined with the bell’s function as a ringing object, give these forms a voice – capable of breaking silence, drawing attention or sounding an alarm. The installation will later continue to evolve, incorporating casts made in collaboration with other women, forming a growing archive of diverse bodies and voices.

Another installation, My fears were the fears of us all**, composed of found and ready-made materials, features paired seashells that evoke ovaries, breast shells or protective armour. Once natural shields for soft bodies, these shells now sit on a reflective surface, expanding the imagery and incorporating reflections from the space and viewer. The piece is anchored by a raw tree stump, stripped of its bark. This contrast – between hollow shells and exposed wood – captures the tension between vulnerability and defence, echoing the emotional landscape Kapajeva explores.

The large-scale textile work Golden Becoming comes closest to evoking a sense of sacred transformation. Its surface is imprinted in gold with the whole body – past and present – merged into a single form, reminiscent of the Shroud of Turin. It becomes a symbolic site of rebirth, where what once was is allowed to evolve into what may become. Over time, the textile will be embroidered with the stories and experiences of other queer people, gradually transforming a solitary imprint into a collective archive – an expanding tapestry of shared memory, resilience and identity.

Working across photography, video, textiles, ceramics and found objects, the exhibition is at once a case study, a therapeutic process, a tribute to Kapajeva’s grandmother, a farewell to her breasts and ovaries, and an ode to the body she now inhabits. By weaving together physical, visceral and psychological experiences, the artist has created a roadmap for navigating a transitional state of being – learning to mourn, care for and celebrate the body’s evolving form. What begins as a profoundly intimate story opens into a collective experience – one that looks toward a future filled with diverse voices and bodies, sharing stories, raising awareness, and celebrating new ways of being and becoming.

* A reference to Ocean Vuong’s poem Beautiful Short Loser, 2022
** A quotation from Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Journals, 1980

The exhibition is part of the satellite programme of Tallinn Photomonth 2025 and serves as Kogo Gallery’s final show of the year, presented under the programme Thrifters and Transformers.

PERFORMANCE
By лäбипõленуд (laebipoelenud) on 3 October at 18.00 at the opening

лäбипõленуд (laebipoelenud) is a memory, a state and movement that binds and tears all voices out of itself to survive in this harsh painful landscape that does not embrace those like us. The inner fire has gone out, only the core remains, it crawls, wails and searches, hunger for life is still within. By channeling rage and apathy in the bodies, we have finally reached the violence that forces us to listen, to bodies that are erased.

CALL TO PARTICIPATE
Artist Maria Kapajeva warmly invites women diagnosed with BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutation or breast cancer to participate in an extended edition of sculpture The Transformation of Silence by including their breast casts into a growing archive of diverse bodies and voices. To make your own cast and learn more, please contact the artist at kapajeva@yahoo.com or the gallery.
During the exhibition period, Maria Kapajeva will also host a community gathering for queer people to collectively contribute to her large-scale textile work Golden Becoming.

BIOS
Maria Kapajeva (she/her, b. 1976) is an artist whose practice explores questions of identity and gender, often focusing on people in states of transition. She works with found and vernacular photographic images, video installations, textile and embroidery, and participatory practices. Working between the UK and Estonia, she exhibits her work internationally. Kapajeva has received numerous awards, including the Estonian Cultural Endowment’s Annual Award (2025), the Eduard Wiiralt Scholarship (2023) and the Kraszna-Krausz Photo Book Award (2021).
Kapajeva’s works are held in several collections, including the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and the Tartu Art Museum. She is currently pursuing a practice-based PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts and works as a project manager for Fast Forward: Women in Photography at UCA, UK.

Šelda Puķīte (b. 1986) is a Latvian curator, writer and researcher based in Estonia. Her formal education includes a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Art History and Theory at the Art Academy of Latvia. She has worked on several international exhibitions, curated stands for art fairs including Liste Art Fair Basel, viennacontemporary and Art Brussels, published art albums, created catalogues for contemporary art festivals Survival Kit and Riga Photography Biennial, as well as written several essays for Baltic culture publications. Her most recent curated exhibitions include Paweł Matyszewski’s solo exhibition Momentary Organisms (2025) at Kogo Gallery, Tartu, Silver Girls. Retouched History of Baltic Photography (2025) together with Agnė Narušytė and Indrek Grigor at National Gallery of Art, Vilnius, and White Dwarfs and All Those Beautiful Nebulas (2024) at Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga. Since 2020, she works at Kogo Gallery as an international project manager and exhibition programme curator.

TEAM
Artist: Maria Kapajeva
Curator: Šelda Puķīte
Production: Stella Mõttus
Communication: Karin Kahre, Stella Mõttus
Installation: Peeter Talvistu
Photos: Nele Tammeaid (opening)
Text: Šelda Puķīte
Graphic design: Maris Põrk
Translation and editing: Refiner Translations

FUNDING AND SUPPORT
The exhibition is funded by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the City of Tartu.
The artist thanks Artproof, Eva Mahhov, Vivek Jain, Mihkel Säre, Anne Eelmere, Nadja Tjuška and лäбипõленуд, gallery team and funders

JOY AND RAGE
Maris Karjatse, Sandra Ernits, Mirjam Varik, Kristiina Aarna, Annika Haas

Haapsalu City Gallery

5.10.–02.11.2025
Open Wed–Sun 12–18

Opening: Sun, 5 October at 14:00

The artists explore motherhood through personal experiences, social tensions, and bodily/memory practices. They share a desire to shift traditional representations of motherhood by highlighting complexity, ambivalence, and invisible experiences. These works do not approach motherhood in an idealized way but instead create space for ambivalence, corporeality, memory, mental and physical strain, pain, loss and the invisible care work that often accompanies the role of a mother. Drawing from both personal and collective experiences, the artists engage with themes such as grief, loss, dependence, recovery, and shifts in identity. In this context, being a mother is not merely a biological condition, but a social, emotional, and linguistic structure – one in which and against which the artists position themselves. The installations, photographs, videos, and sculptures exhibited here address, among other topics, postpartum depression, body memory, mother’s illness, experiences of poverty, homosexual parenthood, and family dynamics that fall outside normative frameworks.

Curator: Annika Haas
Graphic design: Mirjam Varik
Supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment