Adders and ladders

I have always been afraid of snakes. As a child, on warm summer days, I watched my steps carefully, for on the gravel road of our home hill every stick and every straw could awaken, hissing and scaled. At night I would imagine vipers beneath my bed, at the foot of it, or between the sheets. More than the bite itself, I feared encountering the snake, its presence within my own sphere of experience.

When I started taking driving lessons a couple of years ago, I once again lay awake at night. In my mind I ran over a pedestrian, caused a chain collision, or made some small mistake in traffic that, besides being dangerous, would at the very least be shameful. One night I replaced my thoughts of driving by recalling every snake I had encountered in my life, their colors, the patterns on their backs and along their sides, the twisting posture of a limbless body. Soon I was asleep.

In the paintings in this exhibition, I depict narrative situations drawn from my own life. The figures, myself, my partner, my dog and my friends, appear recognisable as themselves, yet also in different roles, as expressions of specific reflections and emotional states. Lush plants, everyday objects and the structures of the surrounding environment with their patterns accompany them, as do snakes that slither into view. In the painting process, I have sought a coherent whole that glows with a feverish, dreamlike atmosphere through vivid contrasts of colour and an expressive use of paint.

Through painting, I seek to find meaning in everyday things and sensations. I create connections between the depicted elements by allowing them to reflect one another’s colour and light, at times drawing on references from cultural and art history. A central theme of the exhibition is freeing myself from compulsive fear scenarios and opening towards a fascination with the inexplicable.

Maaria Jokimies (b. 1992) lives and works in Helsinki. She graduated with an MA in Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of the Arts Helsinki in 2022, and previously earned her degree in Fine Arts from the Lahti Institute of Fine Arts in 2016. In recent years, her work has been exhibited at HAA Gallery and Galleria Huuto in Helsinki, Studio Mältinranta in Tampere, and Art Centre Purnu in Orivesi, among others.

The production of the exhibition has been supported by the Finnish Art Society.

The exhibition has received support from the Finnish Heritage Agency.