Galerie Anhava

amazon is a 16 mm film projection of an androgynous figure shooting a bow and arrow. For the most part, the camera is tight on the body – neck, chest and arm muscles snap between tension and rest. When it jumps back the camera exposes the torso as that of a single-breasted woman. Under the glare of harsh sunlight the woman relentlessly shoots arrow after arrow, each imprinting stark shadows on her skin. amazon makes reference to the Greek myth of a matriarchal society of brave female warriors who are said to have cut off one breast to hit their target better. The work speaks of harnessed strength, female courage and determination.

Image: A K Dolven, amazon, 2005, 16mm film, mute, 1 minute 34 seconds

The award criteria:

“Ilona Anhava is an uncompromising gallerist and a professional mediator of art. Through her work, she has continuously and persistently supported and promoted work opportunities for numerous artists and done groundbreaking work contributing to internationalization of Finnish art. Anhava has created a commercially successful gallery, with an operational model financially sustainable also from the artists’ point of view.

Anhava has significantly reinforced the culture of collecting and supporting art by bringing together artists, artworks and buyers, as well as by selling outstanding, world-class art to Finnish homes for decades. She has acted as an important background force both in the museum world as well as in organizations related to promoting art. As part of her role as a mediator of art, Anhava has actively supported the work done in art journalism and promoted a diverse and polyphonic art discourse on the Nordic art scene from the early 1990’s.”

“Noora Schroderus is a conceptual artist with a multidisciplinary practice. In her works, she uses a wide array of techniques and materials, examining through her sarcastic and playful eye both social phenomena and power structures. Her inventive artworks combine a distinctive humour to recognizable cultural phenomena in a way that never seizes to surprise the viewer.

Schroderus is, both as an artist as well as promoter of working conditions for artists, informed and active. She is respected by her peers for her strong support for young artists and their activities. Alongside her international career, Schroderus has promoted visual arts widely across Finland.”

Images:
1) Ilona Anhava. Photo: Courtesy of Galerie Anhava
2) Noora Schroderus. Photo: Courtesy of Noora Schroderus

“Päivi Takala’s paintings ignite a visual curiosity at once. Both the soft hues and the intense blackness have the allure of a stoically restrained visual voice. There is nothing laboured in these precise, airy works that rest securely in their own reality. An artistic power has been mobilised here. (…)

The primary motifs that Takala has explored recently – horses and swans – are symbol-laden and rooted in history. People have depicted animals since time immemorial. The deeper religious and aesthetic significances of animals to those who created the first cave paintings have been lost to us, however. Takala instead draws our attention to the paradoxical fact that we in the West often approach animals and nature through depictions, logotypes and trademarks that sometimes gain cult status. But Takala’s paintings are neither social critiques nor condemnations of various kinds of luxury consumerism. They are not moral reflections but suggest a contemplative dimension. The paintings are visual ruminations on the world and visual culture created by mankind.”

–excerpt from exhibition text by Joanna Persman

Image: Päivi Takala, On Your Side, 2025, oil on canvas, 60 x 60 cm. Photo: Jussi Tiainen