18.9.-12.10.2025

We leave traces everywhere we go – both intentionally and unintentionally. Sometimes they are subtle impressions, barely visible scratches or delicate lines, but sometimes they are catastrophic destruction. And when I look at the paths we are currently leaving behind, I want to say that this is not what we wanted. This is not what we meant to do. So why did we let it happen?

In my works, I reflect on the world we live in right now and the experience of being here. It is tentative, uncertain, fearful. I have no words for things like these.

Milja Ilona Salonen (b. 1992, Kellokoski) is a sculptor with a Master of Fine Arts degree. She works with a variety of materials, most often wood and ceramics, using the qualities and character of each material as her starting point. She is based in Kerava and Kellokoski.

“I started working with wood over ten years ago. I was fascinated by its nature, unpredictability, and the stories it hides within itself. How my work process becomes a dialog with the material.”