Maiju Salmenkivi: Trust

Organic, whirling brushstrokes infuse Maiju Salmenkivi’s paintings with a fairy-tale atmosphere. Interweaving fantasy and reality, her canvases pulse with an abundance of dreamlike detail. Although their underlying tone is one of quiet melancholy, fleeting bursts of joy surface throughout. Her distinctive palette is immediately recognizable: luminous greens and yellows entwine with myriad shades of pink. While her compositions evoke landscapes, they do not depict specific places. 

Themes of growth and trust run through her work. Hidden figures often inhabit the paintings – camouflaged within the terrain or concealed among the branches of trees. 

The small figures climbing among them allude to childhood and youthful courage – a time when trust in life feels unshakeable. Hand-like forms are another recurring motif. Through them, Salmenkivi expresses trust not only in her own artistic process but, more broadly, in humanity itself.

The exhibition brings together a series of works that approach shared themes from multiple perspectives. Motifs migrate from one painting to the next, with each work emerging as a response to the one before it. 

Maiju Salmenkivi (b. 1972) graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2003. Her work has been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions and also held in several collections.

Galerie Forsblom

27.3.-3.5.2026
Tue–Fri 11.00-18.00
Sat–Sun 12.00-16.00

Free entry