Alum of the Year Sofia Haapamäki: Everything starts with an idea
Sofia Haapamäki is a maverick who seeks answers to life’s big questions through art. Haapamäki is one of the Uniarts Helsinki Alumni of the Year 2024.
What else could there be? What is revealed when something is taken away? Visual artist Sofia Haapamäki has asked herself the same questions over and over again. In her search for answers, she has removed colours from oil paint, taken away the artist from the art and replaced herself with technology.
The driving force for Haapamäki’s work is her desire to understand what it means to be a human in this complex world.
“I constantly ask myself why things are the way they are. I can sit in my studio for hours, staring at my works and pondering things. I find it really interesting to try to understand the world around me through art,” she says.
Haapamäki graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Uniarts Helsinki in 2023 with a Master of Fine Arts degree. Her final project consisted of large-scale drawings and paintings created by a massive pen plotter. Haapamäki designed and built the machine by herself to see if she could express herself by drawing using something other than her hands.
Yet technology is just one of many instruments in Haapamäki’s ever expanding toolbox. She has also used charcoal to trace anonymous fingerprints, light and photographic paper to create photographic drawings and interactive installations to explore the perception of oneself.
For her, everything starts with an idea and the rest will follow.
“I mix and match traditional and new techniques without limitations on how it should be done just because some method has been historically used in a particular way. The more I can experiment, the better.”
Driving force of courage
Haapamäki was born in Pori and spent her childhood in Kaarina in Finland until her family moved to Sweden when Haapamäki was nine years old. As a Finnish immigrant, Haapamäki learnt to cope with a sense of being an outsider from a young age. She had a Finnish-Swedish accent that set her apart from others but nevertheless she found the courage to speak up.
“In Sweden, I never felt Swedish enough, but in Finland I’m not Finnish enough. I’m a child of the Baltic Sea, somewhere in between,” she says.
During her teenage years, Haapamäki, who had been making and creating art throughout her childhood, realised that arts could be pursued as a career and decided to do just that.
First, Haapamäki studied art in Umeå and later at Falkenberg Art School, both in Sweden. Being admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts gave Haapamäki the validation to do things her own way and once again use her authentic voice with confidence – this time through art.
“I dared to challenge myself with new and unknown methods despite having never done anything like it before, thanks to the support I received at the academy,” she says.
Although she graduated from the academy’s painting department, Haapamäki doesn’t identify exclusively as a painter. While ‘conceptual artist’ comes closer, it only describes one aspect of her multifaceted artistic identity.
“I would like to say that I am more than that, and one part of me is a painter. I let my curiosity lead the way in whatever I do, and therefore I put little concern in what category I belong in,” she says.
Experimentation continues
Since graduating, Haapamäki has worked as a substitute technician at the Academy of Fine Arts’ art and technology laboratory. She is building her career as a visual artist alongside her day job.
Every now and then, Haapamäki has wondered if what she is doing makes any sense, and if being an artist with an uncertain future is worth the effort. Each time she comes to the same conclusion.
“I only have one life, and this is what I want to do with my time. I don’t want anything else,” she says.
Next year marks a new phase in Haapamäki’s life as she moves from Helsinki to Stockholm, leaving the academy behind. In her new environment, Haapamäki wants to continue developing her working techniques and materials with an open mind. She sees doctoral studies as a viable option, as it would provide the opportunity to delve deeper into new, interesting questions.
“I don’t know yet what will happen, but I want to continue discovering new things, as experimenting is so fun and important. As an artist, I am prepared for 99 ‘no’ answers and one ‘yes’. That will take me forward,” she says.
Text: Laura Iisalo
The selection of the Alumni of the Year is an annual recognition awarded to graduates of the three academies of Uniarts Helsinki. The award honours alumni who have significantly enhanced the unique value and role of arts and artist education in an exemplary manner through their work. The Alumni of the Year 2024 are young creators and professionals who stand out by seeing things differently and discovering new ways and connections for making art.
