Bio
In her works, Visual Artist Kaija Poijula strives to depict the sense of being an outsider, loneliness and the invisible world of shadows, without becoming too melancholic. Poijula quotes the poet Pentti Saarikoski (1937 – 1983): “I am not interested in the world and its places. I am interested in places and their worlds.” In her works Poijula uses such materials as, for example, animal skulls, plants as well as worn, rusty, abandoned and partly burnt objects. The memories entangled with the objects blend together with the fragile and heavy materials and become works, which create dreamlike, an almost scary-tale atmosphere. Kaija Poijula lives and works in Helsinki. Poijula graduated as Master of Arts from the School of Arts, Design and Architecture in 1995. She studied as a scholarship holder in the Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm and in the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. From 2003 to 2007 she lived and worked in Ireland. Poijula has had several solo exhibitions and she has taken part in numerous group exhibitions in Finland and abroad. She has designed ecclesiastical textiles as well as works for private and public spaces in Finland and abroad. In 2006 she finished a commissioned artwork for the Bethlehem Cultural Centre in Palestine. Her works have been on display nationally, for instance, in the Mänttä Art Festival (2014) and the Purnu Art Festival (2015). Poijula’s works are part of the Finnish State Art Collection. She is a member of the Association of Finnish Sculptors.