Katja Härkki
Basic information
b. 1969, Helsinki
Visual Artist, Painter
Residence: Lahti
Contact information
Email: katja.harkki@gmail.com
Artist’s Statement
At the core of my paintings lies the layered nature of humanity – the struggle, flourishing, and decay of the human mind and body. This undertone of decadence is at once captivating, seductive, and contradictory. The subjects of my works stem from my own life and personal experiences.
Love runs as a pervasive theme throughout my work: its complexity, contradictions, and transience. It does not appear solely as romantic or idealized, but also as vulnerable, fleeting, and constantly reconstructed. Love is a yearning for connection and an acceptance of separateness – a space where one encounters another and, simultaneously, oneself.
The politics of the body serve as a central tool of thought and expression in my art. Embodiment is, to me, both a personal and political space – mutable, layered, and conflicted. The body is not merely a biological entity, but a social and political field where ongoing struggles over power, freedom, and meaning take place.
In my works, the body appears as vulnerable, memory-bearing, and simultaneously as an active agent resisting externally imposed norms and ideals. Through visual language, I aim to dismantle the structures that define the body as an object of desire, a tool of control, or a subject under the cultural gaze.
My painting process is intuitive and hermeneutic – a dialogue in which emotions and thoughts transform into semi-representational images. I work alternately by painting and writing, recording my reflections and the new questions that emerge.
Love runs as a pervasive theme throughout my work: its complexity, contradictions, and transience. It does not appear solely as romantic or idealized, but also as vulnerable, fleeting, and constantly reconstructed. Love is a yearning for connection and an acceptance of separateness – a space where one encounters another and, simultaneously, oneself.
The politics of the body serve as a central tool of thought and expression in my art. Embodiment is, to me, both a personal and political space – mutable, layered, and conflicted. The body is not merely a biological entity, but a social and political field where ongoing struggles over power, freedom, and meaning take place.
In my works, the body appears as vulnerable, memory-bearing, and simultaneously as an active agent resisting externally imposed norms and ideals. Through visual language, I aim to dismantle the structures that define the body as an object of desire, a tool of control, or a subject under the cultural gaze.
My painting process is intuitive and hermeneutic – a dialogue in which emotions and thoughts transform into semi-representational images. I work alternately by painting and writing, recording my reflections and the new questions that emerge.
Current information
Exhibitions 2026- 19 January – 22 March: Slow Art Gallery, Helsinki
- 4–30 May: Kehystarina, Tampere
- 3 June–7 July: Art Centre Mältinranta, Artist of the Month
