Edith Karlson’s exhibition uses fairy tale imagery to make sense of contemporary reality

“I am desperately trying to understand the world, but its current state is so absurdly horrific that it goes beyond all comprehension,” says Karlson. “I love fairy tales, but when I look at my works collectively, they feel – despite their strangeness – more like reality than fairy tales, though perhaps not quite as brutal.”

For Kiasma, Karlson has created a world inhabited by humans, animals, and mythical creatures. Visitors weave through sculptural groups as the lighting shifts from warm artificial yellow to natural daylight.

Mythical characters, for Karlson, are a vehicle for exploring questions that reason alone cannot answer. Prehistory, fossils, and archaeology also provide enduring inspiration. Humans and animals are united by instinct, a tenacious will to survive, and the ability to adapt – themes she consistently examines in her practice.

Karlson employs a diverse array of materials, including clay, concrete, and silicone, creating works that often retain a raw, unfinished quality. Many pieces are left unglazed, their surfaces rough, evoking processes of transformation and transition. Birds and snakes capable of shedding their skin are recurring motifs, symbolising continual renewal.

“Nothing in this world ever ends or is ever finished,” Karlson reflects. “Every day is a struggle from the moment I wake, but I have learned to find joy in small, ordinary things: birds going about their avian business, or even when someone extends a courtesy by giving way in traffic.”

Edith Karlson (b. 1983) lives and works in Tallinn. She has exhibited widely in Estonia and internationally, most recently at the Sapieha Palace Contemporary Art Centre in Vilnius (2025), the Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (2021), the Estonian Art Museum KUMU (2019–2020), and the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig (2018). She represented Estonia at the 2024 Venice Biennale.

The exhibition is curated by Piia Oksanen from Kiasma. 

Edith Karlson 
Dawn till Dawn 
17.4.–27.9.2026