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Artists' Association of Finland

Katja Härkki

Katja Härkki
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Tampereen Taiteilijaseuran taidelainaamoTAIKOKeskusgalleria TampereLahden Taiteilijaseuran taidelainaamo

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.

Show biography
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


 

Works from the artist

Name of the work: Naamiaiset
Naamiaiset
Name of the work: Syleily
Syleily
Name of the work: Minä vaelsin unen sisällä
Minä vaelsin unen sisällä
Name of the work: Viettely
Viettely
Name of the work: Yhteen sidotut
Yhteen sidotut
Name of the work: The Singer of The Forest
The Singer of The Forest
Name of the work: Jambalaya
Jambalaya
Name of the work: Paratiisin laulaja
Paratiisin laulaja
Name of the work: Aurinkotervehdys
Aurinkotervehdys

Bio

Katja Härkki (b. 1969, Helsinki) is a visual artist living and working in Lahti. Through her oil and acrylic paintings, she explores her relationship with nature, the world, and other people, as well as how embodied experience shapes her identity, memories, and way of being in the world.

Härkki graduated as a designer and Master of Arts in 1997 from the University of Art and Design Helsinki, specializing in clothing and costume design. In 2014, she completed her studies in fine arts at the Lahti Institute of Art, and in 2024, she earned a Master’s level degree (YAMK) in visual arts from Turku University of Applied Sciences. Her thesis focused on the development of artistic identity.

Katja Härkki is a member of the Finnish Painters’ Union, as well as the Tampere and Lahti Artists’ Associations and Kuvasto. She has held several solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions, and her paintings are included in both public and private collections.
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