KIRSIMARIA E: TÖRÖNEN NOT MY STORY TO TELL 4. 2. – 1. 3. 2026

Art is a journey, rarely an answer.
A person has multiple roles. Examining these gave rise to a story without an ending – my exhibition *Not my story to tell*.
Of particular interest are silenced and hidden identities and memories.
I explore identity as interactive in relation to references of life and era. An artist written out of the canon of art history or a refugee struggling for their life in the Mediterranean offer perspectives on agency and power structures at whose mercy we live.
Memories anchor us to moments, to a lived life. But detached from moments, as the ghosts of our memories, they blur the picture of reality.

By training I am a printmaker who has never had a principal technique. I work with multiple materials. My starting point is always drawing. From the line grow symbols through which one can try to explain the world one has experienced. The concretization of this human need is central to my practice.
Above all, my point of departure is to ask what art can be and what it means to its maker. In making art, I find it meaningful to continuously question my own practice, technique, and use of materials.

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
I have worked as a professional artist since 1993; I established my own business name in 1996. I began my art studies in Finland at the University of Helsinki’s Department of Drawing. It felt natural for me to study abroad. A large part of my childhood I studied in international schools in the Middle East. I completed my degree in 1993 at the Rotterdam Academy of Fine Arts in the Netherlands, majoring in printmaking with painting as a minor.
From 1996 to 2021 I lived in Mikkeli. I moved to the art city of Mänttä-Vilppula in 2021. I work as a visual artist, gallery manager at Galleria Halmetoja in Mänttä, and as an exhibition producer at the Serlachius Museum. Since autumn 2024 my studio has been located at the Kiusala Artists’ House in Mänttä, maintained by the Kauko Sorjonen Foundation.
I have been awarded
• 2016 TAIKE – South Savo Arts Committee, South Savo Art Prize
• 2013 Mikkeli Camera Club Award
• 2011 City of Mikkeli, Mikkeli Prize
My most recent public artworks are located in Vuores, Tampere, and in Varkaus on the façade of the Konsti Museum Centre.
Websites www.kirsimariatoronen.fi www.studiowakewa.com
Thank you TAIKE – Pirkanmaa Arts Committee.