Art | Matilda Löytty

Taiteilijan sana

Elämän tutkimista taiteen kautta: ihmiset, ympäristö, kulttuurit, yhteydet ja tarinoiden jakaminen sukupolvien ja rajojen yli. Yhdessä oleminen on kaunista.

Taiteeni on tutkimusmatka monimutkaisiin todellisuuksiin ja liminaalikokemuksiin, joita muokkaavat luonto, ihmiset, joiden kanssa työskentelen, sekä tarinat, joita jaamme. Yhteistyö on työskentelyni ydin. Kohtaamisten, keskustelujen ja luovien vaihtokauppojen kautta kokeilen, yhdistelen ja jätän tilaa avoimille mahdollisuuksille.

Sukellan monenlaisiin aiheisiin, etsien niistä myös hienovaraista huumoria. Luova prosessini on virtaava ja kerroksellinen: luon kollaaseja, piirrän, maalaan ja projisoin animaatioita eri pinnoille. Jokainen aihe tuntuu niin moniulotteiselta, että sen tutkiminen vaatii useita näkökulmia. Vaihtelen digitaalisten ja perinteisten tekniikoiden välillä, yhdistäen eri tekniikoita.

Sarjakuvallinen tarinankerronta on olennainen osa työtäni, usein muotoutuen historiasta ammentaviksi kollaaseiksi. Jotkut piirrokseni ovat toteutettu Mummuni vanhoilla liiduilla, kantaen siten konkreettisesti mukanaan menneiden sukupolvien jälkeä. Taide, kuten muistotkin, punoutuu yhteen ja lipuu ajassa. Minua muovaavat ne, jotka tulivat ennen minua, mutta myös työni punoutuu osaksi jotakin suurempaa, yhdistäen ihmisiä, paikkoja ja kokemuksia.

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Artist’s statement

Exploring Life Through Art . People, environment, cultures, connections and sharing stories across generations and borders. The beauty of coming together.

My art is an exploration of intricate realities and liminal experiences, shaped by nature, the people I work with and the stories we share. Collaboration is at the heart of my practice. Through different encounters, dialogues, and creative exchanges, I experiment, combine, and leave space for open-ended possibilities.

I immerse myself in diverse topics, also searching for gentle humor within them. My artistic process is fluid and layered. I create collages, draw, paint, and project animations on to various surfaces. Each subject feels so complex that it demands exploration in multiple dimensions. I shift between digital and traditional techniques, blending mediums.

Graphic storytelling is an integral part of my work, often coming together as collages inspired by history. Some of my drawings are created using my grandmother’s old chalks, carrying with them the imprint of past generations. Art, like memory, intertwines and floats across time: I am shaped by those who came before me, just as my work becomes part of something larger, bridging people, places, and experiences.

Explore my selected art projects, comissioned paintings and everything in between:

With the river

With the River the Collective

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A border-crossing watery work-of-art in many parts 2022–2026

With the River - The Collective is a newly founded collective of eight Nordic established and professional artists based in Finland, Sweden and the Faroe Islands. It was founded by artist Eija Mäkivuoti, who for an extended amount of time has been working with the themes that the group focuses on, but now with seven additional perspectives. The result is a multidisciplinary and multidimensional collective endeavour to comprehend our general connection with fluid bodies, watery borders and border-crossings through artistic processes and production. The collective consists of artists that work in a variety of disciplines and artistic manifestations: painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography, video, audio as well as performance, text based and ritualistic practices.

The artists are: Eija Mäkivuoti (FI/SE), Jessica Franzén (SE), Jón Sonni Jensen (FO), Mari Keski-Korsu (FI), Matilda Löytty (FI), Jouko Alapartanen (FI), Alexandra Stroganova (FI/RU) and Dan Helgi í Gong (FO). The aim is to have short on-site periods of collaborative work in each of the three represented countries, as well as sustaining a continuous online discussion and building of partnerships over the period of four years and to have this work manifest in an exhibition and publication launch in Helsinki in the latter half of 2026, with possible additional touring of the work produced in other locations as well (read project description attached). Some of the more concise themes that the group is working with are: - Bodies of water as fluid borders and the meaning of this for human and non-human beings alike. - Water as an ever-moving, penetrating and cyclical force. - Water as a cleansing entity, conveying and retaining time, space, history and stories. - Water as a gestational, clean yet contaminated environment. - Hydrofeminism. - Different states and qualities of water and the implication of these, as well as our relationship to them

The collaborative artistic group work with With the River 2023–2024 was supported by Nordic Culture Fund / Nordisk kulturfond and in 2025-2026 by Koneen Säätiö.

#joenkanssa #tillsammansmedälven #withtheriver #withtheriverbytheseas #thinkingwiththeriver #thinkingwithwater

Be|longing

Overgenerational multimedia exhibiton between Finland and Namibia

Be|longing was an art project, which started in 2021 when Matilda's grandmother, Kirsti Löytty passed away and her artworks came to Matilda's possession. It presented a series of exhibitions in Finland and Namibia and was documented through comics. The exhibitions included paintings, animations and music of three generations by Kirsti, Sakari and Matilda Löytty. The installations tied together experiences living and working in and between Namibia and Finland and the project explored and experimented with what kind of new levels and meanings could be created with art that builds on the old and how similar experiences are seen in different ages. The exhibition artistically dealt with belonging and longing, home and loss, constantly being on the move and the dialogue between music and visual arts. Through making art, the question arose whether cooperation can reach beyond the grave?

Matilda works with painting and animations. Currently having in her possession the majority of her grandmother’s life’s artistic work, the exhibition presented “visual dialogue” with them through new paintings and animations, The exhibition showcased original paintings and drawings done by Kirsti Löytty and their counterparts -the paintings done by Matilda.

Kirsti Löytty lived and worked in Namibia in the 50s and 60s. She returned to Namibia later in her life and reflected on Namibian sceneries and people in her art. Matilda lived her childhood in Namibia and later did her BA and MA degree artistic researches in the country. The installations feature music composed and performed by musician and composer Dr Sakari Löytty who was born in Namibia and has been living and working in the country over 20 years. He has conducted research on northern Namibian traditional music and worked together with many local musicians. His compositions are influenced by African acoustic guitar styles, as well as the folk and blues traditions, including Finnish folk music. Each of the exhibitions present live music by Sakari Löytty and other Finnish and Namibian musicians.

Follow the project on instagram through the keyword: #belongingartproject