Crocheted Juhlamokka basket with a spool of thread inside. — Photo: Marjaana Malkamäki

Liisa Hietanen's True and Fiction exhibition on display at Imatra Art Museum 13.2.–29.5.2026

The exhibition opening will be held on Thursday, February 12.2th, from 17–18 pm.

Opens at the Imatra Art Museum on December 13.2th. Liisa Hietanen exhibition True and Fiction. Hietanen is a visual artist from Hämeenkyrö who deals with his local environment, its people and everyday observations in a realistic and documentary way.

The sculptures are created using traditional yarn techniques – crochet, knitting and embroidery. Crocheting and knitting are the tools of sculpture for Hietanen. Slow craft methods act as a counterforce to the acceleration occurring in different areas of life. They are a way to deal with the subjects of the works and transfer to them the values and meanings associated with soft handicraft and the use of time.

Works from the artist's entire career

The exhibition features works from Hietanen's entire career to date, from the very first sculpture Pirkko, created in 2009, to the latest works completed just before the exhibition. In addition to Pirkko, older work is represented by Sirpa, completed in 2012, who came to the exhibition with Pirkko all the way from Rovaniemi. Sirpa is a frequent visitor to the exhibition, filming views from the exhibitions with her pocket camera. The views have been created as channel work on the camera. The view of the Imatra Art Museum is also drawn on the screen of Sirpa's camera. After the exhibition ends, the view will be removed from the camera and processed into a small work. All the views accumulated over the years are on display in the exhibition and in their own way tell Sirpa's story. They reveal, among other things, that the work has already visited Imatra in 2012 at the Kuvataiteen valtakunta exhibition.

In recent years, Hietanen has been working on the Villagers series of works. The Villagers are portraits of the inhabitants of the artist's home village. Visitors to the exhibition usually do not know the people behind the villager characters. However, the human mind likes to create stories, so the truth behind the works remains in the background. The subjects and materials of the works, as well as the method of execution, are intertwined with the viewer's own experiences, memories and feelings. The story is often created in the viewer's mind, regardless of what the artist's intention was or what is behind the works. Whose story is ultimately being told in the exhibition, the artist's, the model's or the viewer's?