Clearing Memories - Niina Lehtonen Braun

Niina Lehtonen Braun (born 1975) is a Finnish artist based in Berlin whose family roots on both sides trace back to Saarijärvi, Kannonkoski, and Pylkönmäki. The exhibition at Galleria Ahku continues the "Weeding Memories" installation shown at Jyväskylä Art Museum's "On the Way to the Centre of the Land" exhibition (2020-2021), though most of the works on display at Ahku are new. The work has evolved in a more associative direction: previously the pieces were tightly bound to biography, but now the artist is interested in memory and remembrance on a broader scale.

The exhibition draws on correspondence Lehtonen Braun conducted with her relatives, interviews with her grandmother and aunts, wartime letters, family sayings and stories, and her own diary entries. From her mother's friend, she received all the letters her mother had sent to her. She also researched the women in her family through non-fiction books - for instance, Juha-Pekka Parantainen's book "Parantalan häjyt veljekset" noted that the family had strong-willed women. Such observations became titles for the works: "In this family, it was said there were wicked women."

Lehtonen Braun studied visual art at the Helsinki University of the Arts and at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. She has lived and worked in Berlin since 2000 and forms the performance group JOKAklubb together with Tellervo Kallinen and Mirka Raito. She currently works with the support of a five-year artist grant from the Arts Promotion Centre.

Lehtonen Braun has published four artist books: "Mother Said" (2013), "These Foolish Things Remind Me of You" (2016), "Let Go Girl" (2021), and "My Body is My Studio" (May 2026). The exhibition is organized by the Friends of Saarijärvi Museum.