Emma Luukkala: Night Wash, HAM gallery 20.9.–9.11.2025
In her HAM gallery exhibition, Emma Luukkala ponders the overlap between the sacred and the everyday. Life flows in endless piles of things and to-do lists, with moments of meaning, intense in their brightness, at the heart of the chaos.
Jobs I’ve done today: swept the floors, folded the laundry, and moved things from place to place. From somewhere, I can hear a blackbird singing.
Not even the grandest and most solemn situations are pure and uncontaminated by the outside world – they are always adorned with everyday chores and annoying dirt. Luukkala asks what sacred could mean in a new materialist context, where the world is not divided dualistically into the superior spiritual and the inferior material, but instead consists of a wide range of intertwined players.
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Emma Luukkala (b. 1992) is a Helsinki-based artist who uses painting materials in a variety of ways, combining flat blocks of colour with relief details. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree from Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts in 2020. In recent years, her work has been exhibited at venues including Jyväskylä Art Museum, Kunsthalle Helsinki, tm•gallery and Galerie Anhava.
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This exhibition has been supported by the Arts Promotion Centre Finland and the Finnish Art Society.
In 2025, all exhibitions at the HAM gallery are supported by the Finnish Heritage Agency.
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Emma Luukkala: Night Wash, HAM gallery 20.9.–9.11.2025
The exhibition will be opened on Friday, September 19, 2025 at 5–7PM.
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Additional information:
Curator Sanna Juntunen, HAM, +358 40 178 3537, sanna.juntunen@hamhelsinki.fi
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HAM gallery is an exhibition space at HAM Helsinki Art Museum, focusing on showcasing topical and new contemporary art. HAM Helsinki Art Museum is one of the most significant art museums in Finland and the Nordic region. HAM actively curates a broad international exhibition program and houses a rich collection of over 10,000 artworks, which includes the city of Helsinki’s public art collection. HAM is responsible for art conservation, curation, public art commissions, and acquisitions within Helsinki’s art collection, encompassing both domestic and international works. Furthermore, HAM oversees organizing the ambitious contemporary art event Helsinki Biennial. HAM operates as a foundation under the Helsinki City Group’s umbrella.
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