Welcome to the opening ceremonies on Wednesday, February 4, 2026, from 17:00 to 19:00
Aaron Helo is a painter who studied at the School of Free Arts (Vapaa Taidekoulu) from 2009 to 2013, and he is the director and curator of the Taidepappila Art Center located in the Pirkanmaa region. In addition to painting, Helo is interested in Latin American art and culture, as well as art education and humanitarian work. Organizing cultural events is also an important part of his current life.
Päivi Kukkasniemi is a painter who loves colour and, in her working process, trusts chance—at times allowing even puddle of paint to do the painting themselves. She graduated as a painter from the Free Art School in 2006 and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Lahti Institute of Design and Fine Arts in 2014. Kukkasniemi has been actively exhibiting her work for over twenty years, and her paintings can be found in numerous private homes and collections.
Maria Mughal is a visual artist based in Helsinki and holds a Master of Arts degree (2004, Aalto University). Her work explores the sensitivity of childhood and the deep need to be seen. The quiet moments in her paintings also reflect the adult’s wistfulness and awareness of time passing. Mughal has created four public artworks in Finland. Her works are included in the collections of the Oulu Art Museum, the Keuruu Museum of Art, and the Art Centre Salmela, among others. Maria Mughal has been painting and actively holding exhibitions for over 21 years. Her paintings can be found in numerous homes and private collections.
Maaria Märkälä’s works bring out the multiple meanings of pinkness, with her pink oscillating between wondrous splendour and carnal materiality. Märkälä bears witness in practice to the way that, in the right hands, the pink that is spurned by many and seen as overly cute is the most magnificent, multifaceted of shades. On this occasion, too, she allows her own capacity for enchantment to be seen and signals that she is following this colour into wondrous new visions, this time springtime’s hanami.
Written by Juha-Heikki Tihinen
Aaron Helo
Päivi Kukkasniemi
Maria Mughal
Maaria Märkälä
