Porin Saskiat ry, Scholarship Exhibition – Johanna Alanko and Enda Mattila

Johanna Alanko (b. 1993) is a painter and ceramic artist graduating from Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts in 2018. The exhibition at Poriginal Gallery features Alanko’s large abstract works, which she has been developing both in Finland and abroad. She is known as a passionate and prolific artist. Her work is continuously inspired by the changing environment, colors, shapes, situations, and memories she encounters through her travels. The personality, story, and narrative of the works are one of Alanko’s key starting points in the creation of her paintings. Some of Alanko’s paintings have already been on display at the 3h+K Gallery in Pori during August and September, and now she wishes to present her work on a larger scale.

Enda Mattila (b. 1992) is a visual artist and painter who graduated from Kankaanpää School of Fine Arts in the spring of 2017. The central theme of Mattila’s works has been the exploration of the relationship between mind and body. In the scholarship exhibition, the paintings explore, in addition to this, questions about power dynamics related to the body and its representation, as well as the restrictive impact of social norms on an individual’s identity. The themes are especially addressed through the lens of non-binary gender experiences. Everyone should have the equal right to decide over their own body and identity, without being subjected to external definitions – the right to self-determination of gender is above all a human rights issue.

Translated with ChatGPT