Paths

Melina Paakkonen’s third exhibition at Gallery Halmetoja takes the viewer along a path reminiscent of childhood picture books and board games. Her paintings invite us to look at them as though following a route in which choices must be made: there are possibilities, there are threats, and the outcome is left to chance.

Paakkonen has developed a distinctive visual language that grows stronger with each exhibition. She does not rely on established symbols, nor does she quite follow the visual vocabulary of popular culture. Instead, she appropriates familiar imagery for her own purposes, transforming it into something new in ways that remain impossible to predict.

Melina Paakkonen (b. 1989) lives and works in Helsinki. She graduated from the Arts Academy at Turku University of Applied Sciences in 2019. Her work has been exhibited at institutions and galleries including Turku Art Museum, Sara Hildén Art Museum, Miettinen Collection in Berlin, Orimattila Art Museum and Gallery Halmetoja in Helsinki. Her works are held in the collection of Turku Art Museum / Lars Göran Johnsson Collection, as well as in many private collections.