The exhibition Under My Skin explores the body through the female gaze. Here, the body does not appear as a static or closed form but as a constantly changing, responsive surface through which the world intrudes – getting under the skin. The skin acts simultaneously as a shield, a boundary and a vulnerable point of contact – a site where fear, violence and intimacy leave their marks. The female gaze here is not merely about who is looking but also about how they look. It creates a space for presence, recognition and vulnerability, though not necessarily a comfortable one.
The subject who reveals themselves allows the viewer to come close but does not pose for them. They exist, experience and feel. Here, the body is not an erotic object but a space that invites observation without the need to possess or judge – a space where the personal and the collective, the familiar and the alien, the figurative and the dreamlike, the visible and the hidden converge. It is precisely in this in-between state that the uncanny can emerge: as the familiar suddenly becomes strange, even in the absence of any direct threat. It arises when the safe distance between observer and observed dissolves, and the subject begins to look back.
BIOS
Tiiu Kirsipuu (b. 1957) is a sculptor based in Tallinn. She graduated from the sculpture department of the Estonian Academy of Arts in 1983. Kirsipuu’s work encompasses both realistic and abstract forms, and she uses a wide variety of materials to realise her ideas. She has held numerous solo exhibitions in Estonia and abroad and participated in group exhibitions. She has also created many works for public spaces, curated exhibitions, conducted workshops and participated in sculpture symposiums. Her work has been recognised with the Anton Starkopf Sculpture Prize (2010), the Kristjan Raud Prize (2010), the City of Viljandi’s annual award and Badge of Merit (2024) and the University of Tartu’s Badge of Merit (2024). In 2019, she was awarded the Estonian Order of the White Star, 4th Class.
Heeyoung Noh (b. 1995) is a South Korean painter based in London. She holds an MA in fine art from the Glasgow School of Art (2024) and a BA in Western painting from Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul (2019). Her nude, anonymised female figures embody the complexities and precariousness of diasporic identity, reflecting Noh’s own experience of otherness as an East Asian woman living in England. Water droplets serve as visual representations of the subconscious scars left by systemic, state-sponsored oppression and pervasive patriarchal structures. These scars are silently passed down from grandmothers to mothers and from mothers to daughters through the ritual of washing. Noh received the 2024 TAGLI Mentorship Award, presented in collaboration with the Folco Collection.
Liisa Nurklik (b. 2000) is a painter based in Tallinn. She graduated from the painting department of the Estonian Academy of Arts (BA, 2026). Her practice focuses on abstract painting and explores the possibilities of colour, surface and composition, seeking out the meanings and connections that emerge from their interplay. Her solo exhibitions include If I Were-a-Person at the Estonian Academy of Arts Library (2025) and Wandering at the Estonian Academy of Arts Gallery (2026). She has also participated in several group exhibitions.
Marleen Suvi (b. 1998) is a painter based in Tallinn. She holds an MA in contemporary art (2023) and a BA in painting (2020) from the Estonian Academy of Arts. Suvi’s artistic practice centres on the human being in their private realm. Her works are characterised by a poetic tension between emotionally charged themes and a technically refined, materially experimental approach. Suvi often draws the viewer disarmingly close to her subjects, yet maintains a sense of distance and restraint through the framing and boundaries of the painting. Her recent exhibitions include Good Dogs and Main Basement at Artrovert Gallery, curated by Aleksander Metsamärt (2026), and Water, Greenery and a Beautiful Face at Draakon Gallery, curated by Kerly Ritval (2025). In 2024, Suvi was awarded the Helju Rossmann Schneider Scholarship.
Kaisa Maasik (b. 1994) is an artist and curator based in Tallinn. Since 2024, she has worked as a gallerist at the Estonian Academy of Arts. She holds an MA in contemporary art (2021) and a BA in photography (2017) from the Estonian Academy of Arts. In 2019, she furthered her studies in the Praxis master’s programme in curating at the Academy of Fine Arts, University of the Arts Helsinki. Maasik’s projects are rooted in noticing and collecting, bringing together everyday observations alongside objects and other people’s experiences. Her solo exhibition The Lightness of Being, part of the Young Tartu exhibition series, recently concluded at the Tartu Art Museum’s project space. In 2020, Maasik received the Wiiralt Scholarship in recognition of her approach to combining artistic and curatorial practice.
