Jósefina Alanko
Linen Skin | Pellavaiho | Linnehud
20.2.–29.3.2026
Porvoo Art Hall
Supported by Finnish Heritage Agency
Vernissage19.2.2026
Läntinen Aleksanterinkatu 1,
06100 Porvoo
Linen Skin is a solo exhibition by visual artist Jósefina Alanko, presenting a large-scale textile installation. Working at the intersection of textile, sculpture, and installation, Alanko approaches material as a site of embodied knowledge rather than representation.
Sewn protrusions embedded in the textile surface—so-called pockets or cocoons—create a rhythm between negative and positive space. They operate through bodily logic: weight, tension, endurance, and repetition. These forms refer to interiority, protection, and carrying, as well as to the body’s capacity to retain experiential knowledge. Memory does not emerge as narrative, but as material persistence and structural presence.
Alanko’s practice is rooted in Eastern Finnish and Karelian cultural heritage, where knowledge has traditionally been transmitted through oral, ritual, and material practices. In Linen Skin, material functions not only as a medium but as a carrier of memory, positioning the body as a site where vulnerability, resilience, and resistance coexist. The work proposes corporeality as an alternative way of knowing—one that unfolds through duration, physical presence, and sensory engagement rather than explanation.
JÓSEFINA ALANKO 