Katja Tukiainen
Encyclopedia
Katja Maarit Tukiainen is a Finnish
artist
and cartoonist
. She was the regional artist of Uusimaa from 1999 to 2001 and the 2003 winner of the Finnish Comic Society's annual Puupää award. In 2007 she received the Finnish State Prize for Design.
Tukiainen works with site-specific narration. She uses various mediums, according to what best suits the content of her artwork: comics, graphic novel
s, paintings, drawings, and, recently, animation
and video
. Her works are recognizable by their joyful colours, specially pink and magenta, sympathetic figures and expressive style, and can deal with themes of sorrow, longing or suffering as well as pleasure, love and peace. In her words, this is because beautiful words can also be used to speak of sad and difficult things.
Tukiainen holds a Master's of Art degree from the University of Art and Design Helsinki
and a Master's of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts (Finland), and has studied painting in the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, Italy. After graduating, she worked for six months in Mazzano Romano
, Italy, and has travelled to India
on nine occasions to work for Dalit
human rights.
Katja Tukiainen’s paintings have been purchased into various prestigious collections in Finland and her comics have been published in several international anthologies. She is married to her colleague, Matti Hagelberg
, and they have one child.
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
artist
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
and cartoonist
Cartoonist
A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. This work is usually humorous, mainly created for entertainment, political commentary or advertising...
. She was the regional artist of Uusimaa from 1999 to 2001 and the 2003 winner of the Finnish Comic Society's annual Puupää award. In 2007 she received the Finnish State Prize for Design.
Tukiainen works with site-specific narration. She uses various mediums, according to what best suits the content of her artwork: comics, graphic novel
Graphic novel
A graphic novel is a narrative work in which the story is conveyed to the reader using sequential art in either an experimental design or in a traditional comics format...
s, paintings, drawings, and, recently, animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
and video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
. Her works are recognizable by their joyful colours, specially pink and magenta, sympathetic figures and expressive style, and can deal with themes of sorrow, longing or suffering as well as pleasure, love and peace. In her words, this is because beautiful words can also be used to speak of sad and difficult things.
Tukiainen holds a Master's of Art degree from the University of Art and Design Helsinki
University of Art and Design Helsinki
Aalto University School of Art and Design , known commonly as TaiK, is the largest art university in the Nordic countries, and was founded in 1871. Media Centre Lume – the National Research and Development Center of audiovisual media – is also located in the university...
and a Master's of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts (Finland), and has studied painting in the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, Italy. After graduating, she worked for six months in Mazzano Romano
Mazzano Romano
Mazzano Romano is a comune in the Province of Rome in the Italian region Latium, located about 35 km north of Rome.Mazzano Romano borders the following municipalities: Calcata, Campagnano di Roma, Castel Sant'Elia, Faleria, Magliano Romano, Nepi.It was first mentioned in 945, one of the...
, Italy, and has travelled to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
on nine occasions to work for Dalit
Dalit
Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...
human rights.
Katja Tukiainen’s paintings have been purchased into various prestigious collections in Finland and her comics have been published in several international anthologies. She is married to her colleague, Matti Hagelberg
Matti Hagelberg
Matti Hagelberg is a Finnish comic book artist, illustrator, graphical designer and teacher. He attended the University of Art and Design in Helsinki and achieved a Master of Arts degree. Hagelberg is the only famous Finnish author to use scratch cardboard as his medium and has won a Puupää hat...
, and they have one child.