Johanna Mäkitalo (Hall 2):
In Water – Paintings

The In Water exhibition features paintings whose theme, as the name suggests, is in water. The paintings depict views of the underwater world of fresh waters, wild plants, branches bent into the water, but also plastic bags in the water and exotic plants melting from the ice.

The exhibition takes a stand on the eutrophication of water bodies and the spread of microplastics everywhere, including our drinking water. The paintings of exotic flowers melting from frozen states refer to global warming and glacier melting, as well as the movement of new species further north. Most of the painting subjects have been found and photographed in Päijänne, during the artist's own snorkeling trips on nearby shores. The plastic bags and exotic flowers frozen inside the water have been taken by the artist into the water for photographing and also brought out again. These underwater photographs taken by the artist have served as sketches for the paintings.

All paintings have been made completely plastic-free.

Johanna Mäkitalo (b. 1966, Vantaa) is a painter living in Korpilahti, Jyväskylä. She graduated as a visual artist from the Lahti Institute of Fine Arts (1992 and 2013). Mäkitalo's main techniques are oil paint, watercolor, gouache, and ink. The subjects of Mäkitalo's paintings are found in nature and underwater.