Helena Blomqvist's enchantingly wistful fantasy and dream worlds and photographic works fill the large exhibition spaces of Salo Art Museum in the summer of 2026

Helena Blomqvist: Uusi ystäväni – The New Friend
Salo Art Museum Roundhouse, 23 May–6 September 2026

The summer 2026 main exhibition at Salo Art Museum will feature captivating photographic works and stage sets by Swedish visual artist Helena Blomqvist. The exhibition showcases Blomqvist's fascinating and rich visual world, which contains references to  films, fairy tales and art history, as well as the artist's own memories and childhood imaginative play. Uusi ystäväni – The New Friend exhibition is on display from 23 May to 6 September 2026, and it is the artist's first museum exhibition in Finland.

Helena Blomqvist, who works primarily with photography as well as sculpture and scenography, typically compiles large series of works. The exhibition at Salo Art Museum presents five extensive thematic series that guide visitors into the heart of intense, dreamlike narratives. Alongside the photographs, the exhibition features stage sets and miniature models built by the artist for the works, as well as animal figures that appear in the works.

Blomqvist's enchanting photographic works are like stills from films or scenes from a fairy tale, but they also contain melancholy and societal undertones. The works in the exhibition deal with the passage of time, memories and dreams, while also touching on topics such as alienation, loneliness, the relationship with nature, and the environmental challenges of our time. The subjects of the works expand from the artist's personal memories and individual experience into collectively shared visual narratives, whose delicate observations of lived life and possible futures, touch us all.

The works in the exhibition contain many visual, literary and historical references. The photographic works, bewilderingly rich in detail, can even bring to mind the use of AI. The ghostly mansions and overgrown gardens of the works are, however, not the product of an algorithm, but meticulously built by the artist's own hands. Blomqvist's artistic process is based on creating precise and detailed models and staged environments, which she then photographs. The artist uses digital image processing in a collage-like manner in the finishing stages of the works. The end result is captivatingly timeless worlds in which reality and fantasy, as well as photography and craftsmanship, intertwine seamlessly.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a publication showcasing Helena Blomqvist's art will be released, edited by the art museum, with texts written by art historian Berndt Arell and exhibition curator Minna Nyqvist.

Helena Blomqvist (b. 1975) is a visual artist based in Stockholm. She graduated with a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Gothenburg's photography and film program in 2002. Blomqvist has widely exhibited in Sweden as well as in significant galleries and museums internationally.

Press photos: https://salontaidemuseo.fi/media/
Artist’s website: https://helenablomqvist.com/info/