Minna
Herrala
As a visual artist with an inquisitive mind, I am interested in human and animal behaviour and the way we treat each other and nature.
Some questions are of utmost importance to me, like why do we value people of different origins differently and, in the same sentence, do we, and how do we, consider the welfare of nature, the environment and animals?
Why do we expect gratitude after being sympathetic?
Recent and upcoming
- 2026Avaruusseikkailu, Varikko 25 years AnniversaryVarikkogallery, Seinäjoki
- 2026AhdistusKonttorin galleria, Hämeenlinna, Finland
- 2024Palazzo Albrizzi CapelloVenice, Italy
- 2023–2024Bela BiennialCentro Cultural Parque das Ruinas, Ava Gallery and Shopping Cassino Atlantico, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
- 2024Ava GalleryRio de Janeiro, Brasil
Minna Herrala's photographs hide deep, even obscure meaning in easily approachable, even mundane topics. This concept is called hidden or disguised symbolism. In Herrala's case, the theme of empathy is emblematically hidden in a slice of bread or used and worn piece of soap.
If you view the artist's production as a large entity, a careful eye will notice the ever-repeated and varied form: roundness, the shape of a circle. To Minna Herrala the soft and round expression is a way of embodying a message that does not shout or proclaim, even if the content would so demand. Inwardness and the theme of otherness keep curving the line into a round shape, over and over again.
Maaria Salo, art historian and art critic