Johanna Suonpää
Basic information
b. 1969, Helsinki
Visual Artist / sculptor, textileartist
Residence: Helsinki
Contact information
Email: suonpaajoanna@gmail.com
Artist’s Statement
My way of working is experimental in nature, approaching different visual forms of expression and materials through instinctive surprises. Important points that drive my work forward are the atmospheres hidden in the materials, the linking of different parts conveyed by light, space, and content.
Works combine different techniques and methods of sculpture, textile art and installation art to form reflections on space and its meanings.
The subjects of my works often interpret different forms of being or elements of nature through my own observations, suck as the essence of plants and flowers, as well as the ambiguous Beaty of the plant kingdom: Intime forms acquire a soulful essence in silence. They flourish, suffer, wither and eventually fall out of use. In silence, however, they wait to be reborn. Everything happens in the endless cycle of life and constant change. The content and its meaning are found unexpectedly, in completely new elements: in forms before permitted forms and in the event after.
As materials for my textile sculptures, I have mainly always used discarded materials, such as various fabrics, threads and metals, as well as natural materials. I freely vary my own mixed technique: I sew together, disassemble and tie. I enjoy combining different materials and techniques that create the expression of the work. In recent years, I have also become a little more familiar with the essence of metal as part of the expression of my works.
Individual works often end up as part of larger projects, from which I build exhibitions and, repeatedly, installations that are time-and place-specific and take nature of the space.
Works combine different techniques and methods of sculpture, textile art and installation art to form reflections on space and its meanings.
The subjects of my works often interpret different forms of being or elements of nature through my own observations, suck as the essence of plants and flowers, as well as the ambiguous Beaty of the plant kingdom: Intime forms acquire a soulful essence in silence. They flourish, suffer, wither and eventually fall out of use. In silence, however, they wait to be reborn. Everything happens in the endless cycle of life and constant change. The content and its meaning are found unexpectedly, in completely new elements: in forms before permitted forms and in the event after.
As materials for my textile sculptures, I have mainly always used discarded materials, such as various fabrics, threads and metals, as well as natural materials. I freely vary my own mixed technique: I sew together, disassemble and tie. I enjoy combining different materials and techniques that create the expression of the work. In recent years, I have also become a little more familiar with the essence of metal as part of the expression of my works.
Individual works often end up as part of larger projects, from which I build exhibitions and, repeatedly, installations that are time-and place-specific and take nature of the space.
Current information
- Artists´Island: 08.09.2025-28.09.2025
Harakka Island https://harakka.fi/taiteilijoiden-saari-2025/ - Rya rug. Now, Craft Museum of Finland in Jyväskylä from May 10th until August 31st 2025.
- Solo exhibition: Gallery Moletti, Forssa Museum 15.10.-3.11.2024
Galleria Moletti | Forssan Museo
