Porin Saskiat ry, Scholarship Exhibition – NELLI LINDHOLM AND MINNA SULONEN

Nelli Lindholm

Photographs
Saint Petersburg Today

My exhibition at Poriginal Gallery is primarily composed of photographs. However, its starting point was a painting I created about ten years ago.

The city of Saint Petersburg has changed in many ways since then. I have photographed the city as it is today—its life and phenomena—shaping the exhibition’s theme: Saint Petersburg Today.

In any other country, this exhibition’s theme would address questions related to Russian identity. But in Finland, I hope that viewers will broaden their perspectives on history and take away a positive impression of the cityscape, the spirit of the city, its people, and its unique character.

Saint Petersburg is layered with different cultures, historical phases, and artistic styles, making the city an endless architectural masterpiece. Its cultural treasures belong not only to Russians but to all of humanity.

Saint Petersburg is often called a window to Europe, but it could just as well be called a window to Russia. I believe that close relationships and good communication between neighboring countries should be built on cultural dialogue.

Visual artist
Nelli Lindholm

Minna Sulonen

Drawings and Watercolors

Minna Sulonen’s exhibition consists of pencil drawings and watercolors. Drawing has always been the art form closest to her heart, especially pencil drawing. Sulonen wants to emphasize that the pencil, as an instrument, is much more than just an intermediate stage in creating art. She is fascinated by black, white, and the shades in between, using them to express both form and content in her artworks.

In watercolor painting, Sulonen is drawn to the unpredictability of the medium and its endless expressive possibilities.

The themes of her works emerge from figures, states of being, vitality, and the existing values that surround us. Minna Sulonen shares the simple artistic philosophy of Pentti Kaskipuro:
“Art is born from seeing—through the eye and out through the hand!”

Minna Sulonen
Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts

This text was created with AI assistance