Whore, Madonna, Beast, Barbie, or Messiah? In Emma Ainala’s art women push against their allotted roles

The main characters in Emma Ainala’s (b. 1989, Helsinki) art are often girls and women who linger amid luxuriant nature and in claustrophobia-inducing rooms. Some of them have turned into spiders or snakes, one has been given a sphinx’s features, and others those of a centaur. The women are comparable to pet animals and blend into the décor of their boudoirs, but they also glow bright in the darkness.

Visitors to the exhibition go from spacious paintings set outdoors to a realm of highly charged interiors and walled-in homes. In her art Ainala wants to defend the multifacetedness of emotions and the broad spectrum of existence: alongside fettering roles, there can also be joy and opportunity.

Like a Prayer shows Ainala’s artworks from the last ten years. Several of the paintings were made for this exhibition. Sanna-Mari Pirkola, who devised the exhibition architecture, has created a salon-like atmosphere, with interior design that extends the world of the works beyond the paintings themselves.

Ainala says the exhibition’s title refers to the act of painting, but also to viewing artworks: in both situations an individual is faced with something unknown. In the act of painting, she has to relinquish control and trust her intuition.

For Museum Director Kiira Miesmaa it is also important to bring paintings and exhibitions that speak to different age groups into Kiasma’s exhibition schedule.

“Emma Ainala has succeeded in creating a totally unique visual language. She shatters expectations about how subjects that touch on what it means to be a woman can be addressed. Like a Prayer is highly topical at a time when traditional values are in the ascendant and equality concerns are under threat from various directions,” Miesmaa says.

Like a Prayer has been curated by Kiasma’s Chief Curator of Exhibitions Anna Mustonen.

Artist’s Biography

Based in Savonlinna, Emma Ainala has held solo exhibitions at Finnish art museums in Hyvinkää, Jyväskylä, and Mikkeli. Her work has also featured in numerous exhibitions across Finland and Europe, notably including the prestigious Spring Exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg in Copenhagen.

Ainala’s paintings are held in esteemed collections such as the Saastamoinen Foundation Collection, the Niemistö Collection, and the Mikkeli Art Museum Collection.

Emma Ainala
Like a Prayer
9.10.2026–14.2.2027