︎ pauliina.makela(at)gmail.com
︎ @pauliina.makela
I am Pauliina Mäkelä, a visual artist based in Turku, Finland, working mainly with drawing and analogue installation art. My work often deals with the unpredictable, the uncertain and the impermanent, taking inspiration from both inanimate and animate nature.
My multidisciplinary work is based on pencil drawing. Making things by hand and experimenting with different analogue methods are essential to my practice. With combining various artistic methods I look for a specific tuning, an atmosphere that breathes the complexity of the world: the coexistence of beauty and horror, playfulness and gravity, ordinariness and mystery, the embodied and the intangible, how it all intertwines.
As an artist, I am interested in what lies beyond words: sensations, tensions, the not-knowing, the spaces in-between. My work contains narrative fragments and symbolic clues that are best revealed to the viewer slowly, through exploration.
UPCOMING
2025
Formula Bula! Festival, solo exhibition, FLTMSTPC, Paris, FR (9/25)
Marras, group exhibition, Vanha Kaivos, Outokumpu, FI (9/25)
Marras, group exhibition, Kulturhus Björkboda, Kemiönsaari, FI (10/25)
AER, solo exhibition, Kunsthalle Turku, FI (11/25)
Valoilmiö-festivaali, solo exhibition, Hauho, FI (11/25)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & PUBLICATIONS
2025
AER, art book, published by HARMAA + Sormi Editions
2024
Pneuma (1.11.2024–11.5.2025), solo exhibition, Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva (FI)
Marras, group exhibition, Laterna Magica, Helsinki (FI)
Superbubbles – The Many Forms of Contemporary Comics, group exhibition, Poikilo Museums (FI)
2023
In Between Shadows, Pauliina Mäkelä & Kate Stone, Mältinranta Artcenter, Tampere (FI)
2022
Harhamat, solo exhibition, Vallilan Panimo, Helsinki (FI)
Tapoja olla, group exhibition, K.H.Renlund Museum, Kokkola (FI)
Puusta puuhun, group exhibition, Galleria Kuvitus, Helsinki (FI)
Nordic Circle, group exhibition, NOHO House, Barcelona (ES)
2021
Illustrator of the Year 2021, solo exhibition, Taiteen talo, Turku (FI)
2020
Kotka Art, group exhibition, Galleria Uusikuva, Kotka (FI)
2017
Tempora Mutantur, an exhibition tour of the Finnish contemporary comic association Kutikuti:
20.1.–8.2. Gallery Prostranstvo, Murmansk (RU)
25.–26.2. Copenhagen Comics, Copenhagen (DK)
7.2.–10.3. Preiļu Galvenā bibliotēka, Preiļi (LV)
30.3.–28.4. Madonas novada bibliotēka, Madona (LV)
5.–21.4. NCCA, Tomsk (RU)
22.4.–4.5. Lisbon Comics Library / Bedeteca de Lisboa, Lisbon (PT)
5.–6.5. MiniZineFestPt & Free Comic Book Day, Porto (PT)
5.–23.5. Kaunas International Graphic Art Biennale / Kaunas Artists’ House, Kaunas (LT)
18.5.–4.6. Yeltsin Center, Yekaterinburg (RU)
10.6.–9.7. Center for Contemporary Culture Smena, Kazan (RU)
18.7.–18.8. Poligon, Cheboksary (RU)
8.–22.11. ArtEl, Novosibirsk (RU)
2016
Senso O, group exhibition, Pine Brooklyn, Osaka (JP)
Piirrä nyt, group exhibition, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Rovaniemi (FI)
Tempora Mutantur, an exhibition tour of the Finnish contemporary comic association Kutikuti:
6.–24.4. Fumetto Internationales Comix-Festival, Luzern (CH)
27.4.– 21.5. Cumulus, Geneva (CH)
13.5.–12.6. Floating art gallery NOASS, Riga (LV)
3.–19.6. ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok (RU)
10.–29.6. Oslo Comics Expo / Deichmanske bibliotek Grünerløkka, Oslo (NO)
1.–31.7.2 Mākslas telpa Mala, Cēsis (LV)
23.9.–9.10. Boomfest, St. Petersburg (RU)
30.9.–2.10. Comicfestival Hamburg, Hamburg (DE)
5.10.–5.11. Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils (LV)
2.–6.11. Krasnoyarsk Book Culture Fair, Krasnoyarsk (RU)
2.12.2016–3.01.2017 Ventspils Galvenā bibliotēka, Ventspils (LV)
30.9.2016–29.1.2017 CentroCentro, Madrid (ES)
17.12.2016–16.4.2017 Vendetta#4 / Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille (FR)
2015
Piirrä nyt, group exhibition, Lahti Art Museum, Lahti (FI)
Kutikuti 10 v., group exhibition, Gallery Huuto Uudenmaankatu, Helsinki (FI)
2014
Kutikuti – Business Talk Partner Zone, group exhibition, Wayfarers Gallery, New York (US)
Aakkostoukka – Contemporary Comics Exhibition, group exhibition, Gallery MUU Kaapeli, Helsinki (FI)
2011
Hyppää ruutuun! - Suuri suomalainen sarjakuva, group exhibition, Design Museum Helsinki (FI)
2008
Mystic Sessions, solo exhibition, Napa Gallery, Helsinki (FI)
Parallel Spook, solo exhibition, Ram Hotel Gallery, Bologna (IT)
Helsinki Biennale, group exhibition, Design Museum Helsinki (FI)
White Noise Drawn Together, group exhibition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen (DK)
White Noise Drawn Together, group exhibition, Space1026, Philladelphia (US)
2007
Sprezzatura Maze, group exhibition, Customs Gallery, Glasgow (UK)
Going to bed, group exhibition, Heaven Gallery, Chicago (US)
SELECTED AWARDS, GRANTS & NOMINATIONS
2025
Public display grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
Working grant from VISEK
Project grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
2024
Project grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
2023
World Illustration Awards, Professional Category Winner (Book Covers)
Mikkeli Illustration Triennial, Honorable Mention
The Most Beautiful Books 2022, Honorary mention
2022
The Most Beautiful Books 2021, Honorary mention
Working grant from the Kone Foundation (HARMAA work group)
2021
The Illustrator Of The Year 2021 Award
2020
Working grant from the Kone Foundation (HARMAA work group)
2019
Vuoden Huiput, Best of Finnish Advertising and Design, Shortlist
2017
Mikkeli Illustration Triennial, Honorable Mention
3x3 international Illustration Show, Merit Award
2016
Kuvitustimantti illustration competition, Winner
2014
Mikkeli Illustration Triennial, Honorable Mention
2009
Finlandia Junior nomination, Emilian päiväkirja - Supermarsu pelastaa silakat children’s book illustration, written by Paula Noronen, published by Gummerus
2007
Finlandia Junior nomination, Emilian päiväkirja - Supermarsu lentää Intiaan children’s book illustration, written by Paula Noronen, published by Gummerus
Fumetto International Comix Competition, Luzern, Switzerland, Winner
2006
Vuoden Huiput, Best of Finnish Advertising and Design, Young Designer Award
PERFORMANCE ART
2021–
KULTAPALMUT – an expanded cinema duo together with guitarist Topias Tiheäsalo combines experimental music and analogue moving images. The performances can be described as phantastic, modern-day magic lantern shows. Selected performances: Sodankylä Film Festival, Pori Film Festival, Aboa Vetus Ars Nova, Gallery Forum Box, Cinema Orion, Odysseus Festival, The Museum of Visual Arts Malva, Kalervo Kallion Ateljeetalo.
2024
Lau Nau & Pauliina Mäkelä, Flow Festival (FI)
CINEMA
2024
Kultapalmut
Experimental documentary short film by Verna Kovanen.
Duration 10:44
Verna Kovanen: film direction | filming | editing
Pauliina Mäkelä: art direction | images | projections
Topias Tiheäsalo: art direction | music | sounds
PUBLISHING
2022–
SORMI EDITIONS – A publication platform for records, books and visual art together with composer and musician Topias Tiheäsalo.
2024
Co-editor of Kuti#70 comics magazine together with HARMAA work group.
COLLABORATION
4/2021–3/2025
HARMAA – the work group experimented with philosophical and artistic expression. HARMAA investigated the intertwining of deceit, self-deception and sense of agency in our time. The project was funded by Kone Foundation and affiliated first with the University of Jyväskylä (2021–22) and later with the University of Helsinki. I worked as a full-time visual artis in the project together with philosophers Joonas S. Martikainen, Irina Poleshchuk, Erika Ruonakoski (project leader) and Jaakko Vuori. harmaa.org
RESIDENCIES
2025
The Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation, Grassina Casa Finlandese (IT)
2012
The Arts Council of Uusimaa Residency, Berlin (DE)
2011
Mustarinda, Hyrynsalmi (FI)
︎ @pauliina.makela
I am Pauliina Mäkelä, a visual artist based in Turku, Finland, working mainly with drawing and analogue installation art. My work often deals with the unpredictable, the uncertain and the impermanent, taking inspiration from both inanimate and animate nature.
My multidisciplinary work is based on pencil drawing. Making things by hand and experimenting with different analogue methods are essential to my practice. With combining various artistic methods I look for a specific tuning, an atmosphere that breathes the complexity of the world: the coexistence of beauty and horror, playfulness and gravity, ordinariness and mystery, the embodied and the intangible, how it all intertwines.
As an artist, I am interested in what lies beyond words: sensations, tensions, the not-knowing, the spaces in-between. My work contains narrative fragments and symbolic clues that are best revealed to the viewer slowly, through exploration.
UPCOMING
2025
Formula Bula! Festival, solo exhibition, FLTMSTPC, Paris, FR (9/25)
Marras, group exhibition, Vanha Kaivos, Outokumpu, FI (9/25)
Marras, group exhibition, Kulturhus Björkboda, Kemiönsaari, FI (10/25)
AER, solo exhibition, Kunsthalle Turku, FI (11/25)
Valoilmiö-festivaali, solo exhibition, Hauho, FI (11/25)
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS & PUBLICATIONS
2025
AER, art book, published by HARMAA + Sormi Editions
2024
Pneuma (1.11.2024–11.5.2025), solo exhibition, Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva (FI)
Marras, group exhibition, Laterna Magica, Helsinki (FI)
Superbubbles – The Many Forms of Contemporary Comics, group exhibition, Poikilo Museums (FI)
2023
In Between Shadows, Pauliina Mäkelä & Kate Stone, Mältinranta Artcenter, Tampere (FI)
2022
Harhamat, solo exhibition, Vallilan Panimo, Helsinki (FI)
Tapoja olla, group exhibition, K.H.Renlund Museum, Kokkola (FI)
Puusta puuhun, group exhibition, Galleria Kuvitus, Helsinki (FI)
Nordic Circle, group exhibition, NOHO House, Barcelona (ES)
2021
Illustrator of the Year 2021, solo exhibition, Taiteen talo, Turku (FI)
2020
Kotka Art, group exhibition, Galleria Uusikuva, Kotka (FI)
2017
Tempora Mutantur, an exhibition tour of the Finnish contemporary comic association Kutikuti:
20.1.–8.2. Gallery Prostranstvo, Murmansk (RU)
25.–26.2. Copenhagen Comics, Copenhagen (DK)
7.2.–10.3. Preiļu Galvenā bibliotēka, Preiļi (LV)
30.3.–28.4. Madonas novada bibliotēka, Madona (LV)
5.–21.4. NCCA, Tomsk (RU)
22.4.–4.5. Lisbon Comics Library / Bedeteca de Lisboa, Lisbon (PT)
5.–6.5. MiniZineFestPt & Free Comic Book Day, Porto (PT)
5.–23.5. Kaunas International Graphic Art Biennale / Kaunas Artists’ House, Kaunas (LT)
18.5.–4.6. Yeltsin Center, Yekaterinburg (RU)
10.6.–9.7. Center for Contemporary Culture Smena, Kazan (RU)
18.7.–18.8. Poligon, Cheboksary (RU)
8.–22.11. ArtEl, Novosibirsk (RU)
2016
Senso O, group exhibition, Pine Brooklyn, Osaka (JP)
Piirrä nyt, group exhibition, Rovaniemi Art Museum, Rovaniemi (FI)
Tempora Mutantur, an exhibition tour of the Finnish contemporary comic association Kutikuti:
6.–24.4. Fumetto Internationales Comix-Festival, Luzern (CH)
27.4.– 21.5. Cumulus, Geneva (CH)
13.5.–12.6. Floating art gallery NOASS, Riga (LV)
3.–19.6. ZARYA Center for Contemporary Art, Vladivostok (RU)
10.–29.6. Oslo Comics Expo / Deichmanske bibliotek Grünerløkka, Oslo (NO)
1.–31.7.2 Mākslas telpa Mala, Cēsis (LV)
23.9.–9.10. Boomfest, St. Petersburg (RU)
30.9.–2.10. Comicfestival Hamburg, Hamburg (DE)
5.10.–5.11. Mark Rothko Art Centre, Daugavpils (LV)
2.–6.11. Krasnoyarsk Book Culture Fair, Krasnoyarsk (RU)
2.12.2016–3.01.2017 Ventspils Galvenā bibliotēka, Ventspils (LV)
30.9.2016–29.1.2017 CentroCentro, Madrid (ES)
17.12.2016–16.4.2017 Vendetta#4 / Friche la Belle de Mai, Marseille (FR)
2015
Piirrä nyt, group exhibition, Lahti Art Museum, Lahti (FI)
Kutikuti 10 v., group exhibition, Gallery Huuto Uudenmaankatu, Helsinki (FI)
2014
Kutikuti – Business Talk Partner Zone, group exhibition, Wayfarers Gallery, New York (US)
Aakkostoukka – Contemporary Comics Exhibition, group exhibition, Gallery MUU Kaapeli, Helsinki (FI)
2011
Hyppää ruutuun! - Suuri suomalainen sarjakuva, group exhibition, Design Museum Helsinki (FI)
2008
Mystic Sessions, solo exhibition, Napa Gallery, Helsinki (FI)
Parallel Spook, solo exhibition, Ram Hotel Gallery, Bologna (IT)
Helsinki Biennale, group exhibition, Design Museum Helsinki (FI)
White Noise Drawn Together, group exhibition, V1 Gallery, Copenhagen (DK)
White Noise Drawn Together, group exhibition, Space1026, Philladelphia (US)
2007
Sprezzatura Maze, group exhibition, Customs Gallery, Glasgow (UK)
Going to bed, group exhibition, Heaven Gallery, Chicago (US)
SELECTED AWARDS, GRANTS & NOMINATIONS
2025
Public display grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
Working grant from VISEK
Project grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
2024
Project grant from the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike)
2023
World Illustration Awards, Professional Category Winner (Book Covers)
Mikkeli Illustration Triennial, Honorable Mention
The Most Beautiful Books 2022, Honorary mention
2022
The Most Beautiful Books 2021, Honorary mention
Working grant from the Kone Foundation (HARMAA work group)
2021
The Illustrator Of The Year 2021 Award
2020
Working grant from the Kone Foundation (HARMAA work group)
2019
Vuoden Huiput, Best of Finnish Advertising and Design, Shortlist
2017
Mikkeli Illustration Triennial, Honorable Mention
3x3 international Illustration Show, Merit Award
2016
Kuvitustimantti illustration competition, Winner
2014
Mikkeli Illustration Triennial, Honorable Mention
2009
Finlandia Junior nomination, Emilian päiväkirja - Supermarsu pelastaa silakat children’s book illustration, written by Paula Noronen, published by Gummerus
2007
Finlandia Junior nomination, Emilian päiväkirja - Supermarsu lentää Intiaan children’s book illustration, written by Paula Noronen, published by Gummerus
Fumetto International Comix Competition, Luzern, Switzerland, Winner
2006
Vuoden Huiput, Best of Finnish Advertising and Design, Young Designer Award
PERFORMANCE ART
2021–
KULTAPALMUT – an expanded cinema duo together with guitarist Topias Tiheäsalo combines experimental music and analogue moving images. The performances can be described as phantastic, modern-day magic lantern shows. Selected performances: Sodankylä Film Festival, Pori Film Festival, Aboa Vetus Ars Nova, Gallery Forum Box, Cinema Orion, Odysseus Festival, The Museum of Visual Arts Malva, Kalervo Kallion Ateljeetalo.
2024
Lau Nau & Pauliina Mäkelä, Flow Festival (FI)
CINEMA
2024
Kultapalmut
Experimental documentary short film by Verna Kovanen.
Duration 10:44
Verna Kovanen: film direction | filming | editing
Pauliina Mäkelä: art direction | images | projections
Topias Tiheäsalo: art direction | music | sounds
PUBLISHING
2022–
SORMI EDITIONS – A publication platform for records, books and visual art together with composer and musician Topias Tiheäsalo.
2024
Co-editor of Kuti#70 comics magazine together with HARMAA work group.
COLLABORATION
4/2021–3/2025
HARMAA – the work group experimented with philosophical and artistic expression. HARMAA investigated the intertwining of deceit, self-deception and sense of agency in our time. The project was funded by Kone Foundation and affiliated first with the University of Jyväskylä (2021–22) and later with the University of Helsinki. I worked as a full-time visual artis in the project together with philosophers Joonas S. Martikainen, Irina Poleshchuk, Erika Ruonakoski (project leader) and Jaakko Vuori. harmaa.org
RESIDENCIES
2025
The Finnish Artists’ Studio Foundation, Grassina Casa Finlandese (IT)
2012
The Arts Council of Uusimaa Residency, Berlin (DE)
2011
Mustarinda, Hyrynsalmi (FI)
