Published: 12.11.2026
Text: Jari Tamminen
Editing: Viestintätoimisto Jokiranta Oy

How and why did you become an artist?

I have worked as a journalist for Voima magazine since 2001. Soon after joining Voima, I found myself creating and developing subvertisements for publication in the magazine. Through parody, they examine how everyday advertising influences us and what advertisements leave unsaid.

For a long time, I regarded subvertisements primarily as a form of experimental visual journalism. However, by the time art teachers started using them as part of their teaching and they began to be requested for art exhibitions, I came to the conclusion that they could just as well be considered art.

Since then, in connection with my exhibitions, I have increasingly brought the themes, modes of presentation and ideas of my subvertisements into the realm of art. At the same time, I have combined very different forms of storytelling.

What is your relationship with nature like?

I have lived in cities my entire life. However, I have almost always lived near the sea, and there are plenty of forests in my neighbourhood. I enjoy being close to nature, but fundamentally I believe that nature manages perfectly well without humans. Therefore, I would like people to leave nature as undisturbed as possible.

At the same time, I also grapple with the question of what we actually mean by the term nature. Human beings are part of nature alongside other animal species, yet we have chosen a role within nature that is comparable to a cancerous growth in the human body. Through my work, I seek to promote the idea that we should learn to be less heavy-handed towards (the rest of) nature. We ourselves would greatly benefit from this as well.

Tell us a bit about your project that the Foundation is funding.

In spring 2027, I will organise the Häiriköt-päämajakaupunki exhibition at the Mikkeli Art Museum, where I will examine our relationship with nature through subvertisements and a large-scale installation. I will present observations about what happens when we nurture forests with chainsaws and forest animals with rifles. What does this way of caring reveal about us? And what will the seas look like if we continue filling them with plastic?

In connection with the exhibition, I will also organise subvertisement workshops for pupils from nearby schools and upper secondary schools.

We rarely change our behaviour based on information alone – emotions are also needed, and art can evoke them.

Why do we need art?

Thanks to scientific research, we are well aware of the problems related to our actions. However, knowledge alone is not enough to change our behaviour. Change requires emotion alongside knowledge, and art enables us to speak to one another in a way that resonates on an emotional level. Emotion combined with knowledge helps us understand ourselves and our society more deeply.

What kinds of thoughts and emotions do you hope your art will evoke?

The subjects I address are extremely ordinary, yet my works present uncomfortable observations about what the public perceives as normal. Challenging what is considered normal always provokes resistance, and some viewers may indeed feel unsettled by the observations presented.

Naturally, I hope that strong emotions will also lead audiences to reflect on their own choices in a new way and perhaps even change how they act.

The world needs thought-provoking art. This blog series goes behind the art, featuring artists and works supported by the Sakari Alhopuro Foundation. In 2026, the art grants were awarded to artists who address aspects of climate change, biodiversity loss or the state of Finnish nature in their work.