Heidi Lahtinen ^{Emerging artist}

Artist is based in: Finland

Heidi Lahtinen (b. 1984) is a visual artist living and working in Helsinki. Lahtinen is graduating with an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts, Helsinki, in 2026. She has held private exhibitions and has participated in group exhibitions both in Finland and internationally. Lahtinen works with materials such as wool yarn, metal, concrete, and wood. Her works are spatial, often installations. All her works are based on a painterly thinking. Lahtinen uses lot of colours in her works. Her techniques include tufting as well as various metal, wood, and casting methods.

The theme of her works are extinct and endangered animal species. Focusing on the sixth extinction. In some of the works, animals are presented as if their remains were found in a tar pit all jumbled together. In some works, animals appear as they were when they were alive. Sometimes Lahtinen is just imagining her own animal species that may have been alive.

Lahtinen is currently completing her Master of Fine Arts degree at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki, and previously studied painting at the Free Art School in Helsinki and Visual and Media Arts at Ingman College of Crafts and Design in Kuopio. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions across Finland and internationally, including Gallery Napa in Rovaniemi, Gallery Katariina and Galleria Huuto in Helsinki, Haihara Art Centre in Tampere, Gallery Kellokas in Äkäslompolo, and Gallery Pallas in Tartu, Estonia. Recent exhibitions include the solo exhibitions Two-Headed Horse (2025) and The Golden Toad and the Tritooths (2024), as well as group exhibitions such as Kuvan Kevät (2026), Plusmiinus.4 (2025), and Plusmiinus.1 (2023). Her works are included in the collections of Helsinki University Hospital (HUS), the Dr. Mathias Ingman Foundation, and the City of Parkano. Lahtinen has received support from the Anita Snellman Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).