Julia Valtanen "What grows between us"

It can be said that in Julia Valtanen’s works, a dialogue emerges with what philosopher Donna Haraway* called “kinship” — the search for new connections between the human and the non-human, the living and the inanimate, the natural and the artificial.
 
In her book Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene, Donna Haraway criticizes the concept of the Anthropocene, which describes the era of human dominance on Earth, and proposes the term “Chthulucene” to describe the current epoch. The Chthulucene is an era of coexistence, entanglement, and symbiosis between different species, where humans are no longer at the center of the universe. It is a time when we need to learn to live together with other living beings, to care for relationships, and make kin with non-human agents— animals, plants, fungi, bacteria, and even technological systems. The Chthulucene is also an alternative future where living beings learn to survive together, rather than dominating one another.
 
Julia Valtanen’s paintings become a space where new forms of closeness are born. Recognizable elements, reminiscent of natural structures— roots, vessels, plants, flowers, animals, water streams, living tissue— are combined with abstract elements. This fusion offers a play of interpretations, creating associations with mythologies, dreams, and cosmic images. The general impression of viscosity and fluidity is reinforced by the amorphous boundaries between elements, transforming chaos into harmony. The special technique of layering paint gives the paintings an unusual tactile quality and visual complexity. The artist’s color palette, rich in bright colours, appeals to the sensuality of perception, yet behind this riot of color lies subtle work with softness and vulnerability.
The artist prefers to work on the border between abstract and figurative painting. The paintings seem spontaneous and impulsive, with a strong expressiveness of shapes and lines.

Julia Valtanen’s work includes collages and paintings, in which a densely packed, rich composition with plant motifs is emphasized by expressive work with color, and the freedom of the artist’s hand is evident. All of this refers to Henri Matisse’s Fauvism and continues the dialogue between modernist and contemporary painting.
 
“What Grows Between Us” is an opportunity to look closely and reflect on what grows within the space that we share with each other and with the world.