ART IS MY PLAYGROUND.
I am a visual artist working primarily with lens-based media, often incorporating sculptural elements and text into my work.
FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS
June 2026
My solo show, Pigeon Heart, will be on display at Toinen Silmä gallery in Helsinki.
January 2027
I’m holding a duo exhibition with Eliya Zweygberg at HAA Gallery, Suomenlinna, Helsinki.
PAST EXHIBITIONS
December 2025
I took part in the Valmis. Kesken. (Done. Undone.) group show at the Photographic Centre Peri in Turku.
November 2025
My works were on display at Galleria Aski in Turku in a joint exhibition with Paula Saraste and Aarni Vaarnamo.
November 2025
I took part in a group show at the Lou gallery in Helsinki.
My work is held in private collections and in the collection of the Finnish National Gallery.
WANT TO BUY MY WORK?
Some of my prints are available through the online shop of the Association of Photographic Artists. You can also contact me directly to inquire about purchasing a print or an artwork.
PIGEON HEART, 2025
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PIGEON HEART, 2025 ⚡︎
The series of works is based on the life of my great-grandmother. Siiri, a mother of six and an artistically gifted woman, fell ill with encephalitis lethargica (sleeping sickness) in 1923. She never recovered, spending the last sixteen years of her life in the Pitkäniemi psychiatric hospital. I interpret Siiri’s fate as her descendant’s, and as a woman able to forge her own path.
I have built sets, reconstructed Siiri’s dresses, and collected old objects that together create a new, imagined reality through photography, moving image, and sculpture. At the heart of the exhibition are a worn wooden chair salvaged from the hospital and a photograph taken in Pitkäniemi. In the middle of the garden, in peace and quiet, sits the bride.
The body of work reflects the fates of many of Siiri’s contemporaries — women who had no choice.
“How to depict darkness? How to depict light?
How to capture what happens between the two?
I have wakefulness and dream, love and longing, freedom and loss.
How to portray it all?”
The Pigeon Heart exhibition was on at Galleria Aski in Turku in November, 2025 as part of the Henkiin herätetyt (Revived Spirits) exhibition with Paula Saraste and Aarni Vaarnamo.
FINAL BLOOM, 2025
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FINAL BLOOM, 2025 ⚡︎
THE BEAST, 2024
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THE BEAST, 2024 ⚡︎
The Beast is a collaborative project between photographer Laura Iisalo and The Beast. It explores themes including power, shame, and emotional hunger.
The male gaze—or simply the gaze—reflects ongoing socio-political dynamics and mechanisms of discipline, and it has consequences. Power has shifted. The unsafe feelings of being judged, expected to obey, and pressured to meet external standards are played with and chewed on by The Beast.
The Beast is an alter ego. It is a defensive mechanism, a safe armor, and a weapon that allows complex emotions to exist and manifest. The Beast is role-play and performance—an exercise in exploring what it means to be human.
The Beast is complicated, needy, hungry, and nasty. The Beast is pretty; it is easy, and it is nice. The Beast is pure contradiction—anything and everything.
When control is lost, The Beast takes over.
It screams for love: Look at me. Stop looking at me.
When I look at The Beast, I recognize that I too am a beast.
