News
Jaakko Heikkilä’s exhibition And I Became Human is set to open in March 2026 during Aine Art Museum’s anniversary year in Tornio
Aine Art Museum in Tornio is set to turn 40 years old in March 2026.
As part of the anniversary year celebrations, the museum will be hosting a retrospective exhibition entitled And I Became Human, showcasing the work of much-loved Photographer Jaakko Heikkilä. The exhibition will present a broad spectrum of Heikkilä’s work, spanning the early 1990s to the 2020s, and will be on display at Aine Art Museum from 8 March to 30 August 2026.
Jaakko Heikkilä is one of northern Finland’s most significant and internationally renowned contemporary artists. Born in Kemi in 1956, he works in the Kukkolankoski rapids area of the Tornio River Valley.
Heikkilä first became known to a wider audience in the 1990s with his works Our Land (1992) and Bright Humility (1996), which explored the people and culture of the Tornio River Valley. Since then, Heikkilä’s photography has taken him to Armenia, Russia, Serbia, Italy, the USA, Norway, the UK, Brazil, Mexico and Cuba.
Heikkilä’s photographs often provide an insight into various communities, minority cultures, and the related phenomena. His images are deeply human, touching, and often with a soft hint of humour. The subjects of his photographs include Venetian aristocrats, Armenians, Wallachians, and Pomors, as well as some of Finland’s wealthiest people.
Heikkilä has held numerous major solo exhibitions at venues such as the National Museum of Finland in 2016 and 2022, the Finnish Museum of Photography 2011, and the Venice Biennale 2005. His solo exhibition Mykempi ko kala (‘Quieter than fish’) took place at Aine Art Museum in 1994, followed by Armenian vaietut tarinat (‘Armenia’s silenced stories’) in 2007.
Heikkilä won the Lapland Art prize in 1993, the State Prize for Photographic Art in 2007, and the Barents Scholarship for Cultural Cooperation in 2017.
Heikkilä explains the significance Aine Art Museum holds for him:
“We moved to Kukkola in autumn 1989. Aine Art Museum quickly became very close to my heart, a kind of living room that could transport me into the arts, a restaurant of thoughts, a source of inspiration.”
The opening of the exhibition will be celebrated with an event open to all at Aine Art Museum on Sunday 8 March 2026 at 13:00. This will be preceded by an invitational event on 7 March 2026.
Jaakko Heikkilä And I Became Human
8 March – 30 August 2026
Aine Art Museum, Torikatu 2, 95400 Tornio
For more information and interview requests:
Amanda Hakoköngäs, curator, Aine Art Museum
amanda.hakokongas@tornio.fi +358 (0)406147244
Tuesday 2.12.2025 at 13:00 Who Writes About Northern Art? Open lecture and talk at the Aine Art Museum
The open discussion will feature speakers Hilde Sørstrøm (Norway), Stina Nilsson (Sweden), Paavo J. Heinonen (Finland), Silvia Colombo (Sweden), Victoria Andersson (Sweden), Sini Mononen (Finland), and Kalle Lampela (Finland). The conversation will be moderated by Amanda Hakoköngäs, Curator at the Aine Art Museum. The language of the discussion is English.
The event begins at 13:00 (time in Finland) in the museum café, Café Aine, and is free and open to everyone. Coffee will be served to the audience. The Aine Art Museum is an accessible venue, and participants in the event will have free admission to the museum’s exhibitions. Warmly welcome!
The event is organized with the support of the Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation and the Finnish-Norwegian Cultural Foundation.
Exhibition opening Edith Hammar Boots Filled With Water 27.11.2025 at 18:00
In 2025, the Aine Art Museum will highlight art related to space, architecture in its exhibitions. Expect textiles, northern perspectives, and spatial drawings to take center stage!
In April 2025 the beloved sculptor Kaarina Kaikkonen will present her exhibition, running throughout the summer until August 3rd. In Autumn 2025 the museum will showcase northern contemporary art with the group exhibition Lumipalloefekti 5: Pohjoinen katse (The Snowball Effect 5: Northern Gaze), featuring ten artists. This exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Kemi Art Museum.
On April 25th, 2025, an exhibition by the beloved sculptor and internationally renowned creator of spatial textile works, Kaarina Kaikkonen, will open. The exhibition will run throughout the summer until August 3. In the fall, the Aine Art Museum is delighted to present northern contemporary art with the group exhibition Snowball Effect 5: Northern Gaze, which brings together ten contemporary artists. The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Kemi Art Museum.
The final exhibition of the year is a solo exhibition by visual artist Edith Hammar, who works in Gothenburg. The exhibition will be on display at the Aine Art Museum from November 27, 2025, to February 28, 2026. This marks the first solo museum exhibition for the artist, who is known for spatial drawings and comic albums.
The Aine Art Museum’s collection exhibitions in 2025 will focus on space, architecture, and shared environments. . On February 14, 2025—Valentine’s Day—the exhibition Talo taiteelle I A House for Art will open. It celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Rajakartano building, designed by architect Matti Porkka.
Additionally, various events and public programs will highlight the museum’s anniversary theme throughout the year. Stay tuned for updates—see you at the Aine Art Museum!
The Artist Selections for Snowball Effect 5 Exhibition Announced– Twenty Contemporary Artists at Aine Art Museum and Kemi Art Museum, August 23–November 16, 2025
Snowball Effect 5 – Northern Gaze explores life in the North with its unique phenomena. The exhibition’s works address timely themes, ranging from the relationship between nature and humanity to traditions, bullying, religion, and challenging childhood experiences. The world’s attention is also turning northward: geopolitically, the importance of the Arctic region continues to grow.
The artists for the exhibition were chosen through an open call held in 2024, which attracted a record 262 applicants. The initial selection and final artist choices were made by Lumipalloefekti curator Merja Briñón, along with the exhibition teams of Aine and Kemi Art Museums.
The Artists
Aine Art Museum: Jaakko Autio, John Court, Johannes Heikkilä, Savu Korteniemi, Markku Laakso, Pia Männikkö, Tommi Pasanen, Harriina Räinä, Saku Soukka, Meri Toivanen
Kemi Art Museum: Pekka Homanen, Maria Huhmarniemi, Rosa Kansala, Jonas Karén, Elina Länsman, Mayumi Niiranen-Hisatomi, Milla-Kariina Oja, Juha Allan Ekholm & Jussi Valtakari, Tommi Yläjoki
Snowball Effect 5 – Northern Gaze 23.8.–16.11.2025 at the Aine Art Museum and Kemi Art Museum
For more information:
Aine Art Museum
Virpi Kanniainen, museum director, 0505971197, virpi.kanniainen@tornio.fi
Kemi Art Museum
Tanja Kavasvuo, museum director, 040 357 6991 tanja.kavasvuo@kemi.fi