6.11-29.11 2026

Opening / Avajaiset / Vernissage: 5.11.2026, 18:00–20:00

Curated by Ramiro Camelo

“The past stays with us always, in the body, and all humans live in a world of objects whether they like it or not, sharing the resources of reality with billions of other creatures. There is no steel box that provides protection against the torturous forces that limit the being and doing of bodies. There is no escape route, no hiding place.”
– Olivia Laing – Everybody: A Book About Freedom

Myymälä2 is delighted to present the first solo exhibition by Anni Vainio. The exhibition consists of works created through textile art, exploring bodily experiences, memories of touch, traces of wear, and the multi-layeredness and simultaneity of things. Here and there, the fragile and broken surfaces of the lighter works tenaciously hold their form and, if necessary, hang stubbornly in place.

The focus is on the parts of the body through which we connect with one another. With our hands we caress, with our ears we listen, and through our skin we open ourselves to touch. The formal language of the works’ surfaces draws inspiration from nature: the gnarled branches of old pine trees, the mycelium of fungi, and the roots of plants. This same formal language is echoed in blood vessels and the nervous system—and especially in the body of an aging person, as it dries out, shrinks, and eventually stiffens. The vitality of touch and connection coexists with the finiteness of life and its inevitable end.

The choice of materials has been guided by an appreciation for nature and a commitment to ecological sustainability; therefore, the works focus primarily on recycled materials. Among other things, they incorporate leftover herbal flax from weaving, polyester threads from a former embroidery company, and a 70-year-old linen lining fabric received as a gift.

At the heart of Vainio’s work are profound meditation and dialogue on materiality.

“The richness and diversity of materials Anni Vainio uses and repurposes — either soft and hard, new or worn—evoke many metaphors and meanings. They can suggest fragility and impermanence, or the ubiquity of common memories and the uniqueness of our personal nostalgia for the here and now. Her artworks appeal to you to be perceived and reckoned with; after all, they invite you to find abundant comfort and enchantment when looking at them.” concludes the exhibition’s curator Ramiro Camelo.

Anni Vainio (b. 1985) works with textile art. Her practice is rooted in materiality as a site of embodied experience and knowledge. The formation of belonging, touch, inaccuracies, layering and ephemerality are currently the unifying themes of her works. Vainio is inspired by frustration and loving, books, dance and human bodies, the beauty of now, and imprecise bodily memories

Anni graduated from the Textile Craft Teacher program, University of Helsinki in 2012. She is now finishing her studies of Applied Arts and Textile Art in the University of Lapland. In her work as an artist-educator she has specialized in embodied practices and mindfulness. Alongside her artistic work, Anni guides kids in cultivating their emotional skills, creativity and curiosity. As a member of the Piparit collective, Anni works with textile-based and site-specific projects exploring fleshy, bodily encounters, politics of proximity and shifts within a body in flux. The works of the collective emerge through experimentation, hands-on play, and love.