Maija Tammi (b. 1985) is a Finnish artist and Doctor of Arts, whose photographs and videos examine the liminal areas of mortality and immortality, science and art. She regularly collaborates with scientists and musicians.

Tammi is known for her radical storytelling through the medium of video, photography and installations. She uses stories in different modalities to highlight some of the central themes and concerns of society – engaging a playful approach which could be called speculative poetics.

Tammi’s work has been exhibited internationally, among others in Paris, Berlin, Rome, London, New York, and Tokyo, and she has five published books. Tammi’s artworks are for example in the collections of Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, USA, Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma in Helsinki, Finland, and National Portrait Gallery in London, UK. Tammi currently holds the title Artist Professor for the years 2020–2024.

CV

Born 1985

Education

2013–2017 Doctor of Arts, Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Finland.
2006–2010 Master of Social Sciences. University of Tampere, Finland.

Books

2023 Artbook Hulda & Lilli, Kult Books
2020 Artbook Immortal with Ville Tietäväinen, Aalto ARTS Books
2017 Artbook White Rabbit Fever, Bromide Books.
2017 Sick Photography; Representations of Sickness in Art Photography, Aalto ARTS books.
2014 Artbook Leftover/Removals, Kehrer Verlag.

Selected solo exhibitions

2024 Hulda, Lilli and the Roach, MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
2024 Immortal’s Birthday, Vasli Souza gallery, Oslo, Norway.
2024 Octomom, Turku Art Museum, Pimiö, Turku, Finland.
2023 Octomom, Finnish institute in Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.
2023 Empathy Machine, Finnish Museum of Photography (Kaapelitehdas), Helsinki, Finland.
2020 Immortal’s Birthday with Charles Quevillon, Forum Box, Helsinki, Finland.
2018 One of Them Is a Human, Jarvis Dooney Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
2017 White Rabbit Fever, Kana Kawanishi gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
2017 White Rabbit Fever, Matèria, Rome, Italy.
2017 White Rabbit Fever, Photographic Centre Peri, Turku, Finland.
2017 Hydra, Gallery Huuto Jätkäsaari, Helsinki, Finland.
2016 White Rabbit Fever, Gallery Lapinlahti, Helsinki, Finland.
2015 Leftover and Removals at Oxford University, Oxford, UK.
2015 Milky Way at Gallery Korjaamo, Helsinki, Finland.
2015 Leftover at Photographic Centre Peri, Turku, Finland.
2014 Leftover at Photographic Gallery Hippolyte, Helsinki, Finland.
2013 Removals at Galerija Makina, Pula, Croatia.

Video performances

2020 Video/performance The 1m3 of the Human Experiment with Charles Quevillon at Kiasma Theatre, Helsinki, Finland.
2018 Video/performance The 1m3 of the Human Experiment with Charles Quevillon at Our Festival, Tuusula, Finland.
2018 Concert on cancer with Pekka Kuusisto, Perttu Haapanen, Suvi Savolainen and Jukka Huitila at Wigmore Hall, London.
2017 Video performance Hydra with Maja S.K. Ratkje at Our Festival, Tuusula, Finland.
2016 Video performance Marcel Was Here and Day 11799 with Pekka Kuusisto at Our Festival, Järvenpää, Finland.
2014 Two live-video installations with Aapo Huhta at Our Festival, Järvenpää, Finland.

Selected group exhibitions

2024 Acts of Care / Finland Pavilion, 15th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea.
2024 Milky Way Tour, Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland.
2024 Imagine Another Perspective, Alfred Ehrnhardt Stiftung, Berlin, Germany.
2023 Lagos Photofestival, Nigeria and Benin.
2023 Art Week, Tokyo, Japan.
2023 With and Eye on Nature, Natural History Museum, Gothenburg, Sweden.
2023 Machine Vision Candela Gallery, Richmond, USA.
2023 One Picture Manifesto, The Reference, Seoul, South Korea.
2022 6th BIAN – International Digital Art Biennial – METAMORPHOSIS – MUTATION, Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal, Canada.
2022 One Picture Manifesto, Kana Kawanishi Photography, Tokyo, Japan.
2022 Holy Fluff, Supermarket Art Fair with gallery Sculptor, Stockholm, Sweden.
2022 BioMedia, Centre des arts, Enghien-les-Bains, France.
2022 One Picture Manifesto with gallery Matéria at Spazio Duale, Rome, Italy.
2022 The Beauty of Early Life, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany.
2021 Decision Making – L’instant décisif, Canadian Culture Centre, Paris, France.
2021 BioMedia, ZKM Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany.
2021 Real Feelings, at the MU Hybrid Art House, Eindhoven, Netherlands.
2021 One of Them Is a Human at Belfast Photo Festival, Belfast, Northern Ireland.
2021 Supernatural. Sculptural Visions of the Body, Oulu Museum of Art, Oulu, Finland.
2021 Photo 2021, Melbourne, Australia.
2020 #cute. Islands of Bliss? at the NRW-Forum, Düsseldorf, Germany.
2020 From Hereon: posthuman, nonhuman, antihuman, Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney, Australia.
2020 Real Feelings, at the House of Electronic Arts, Basel, Switzerland.
2020 White Rabbit Fever at Circulation(s), Paris, France.
2020 In Real Life at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, US.
2019 One Picture Manifesto at the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki, Finland.
2019 Valkoinen Pupu at LOOP Festival with the Jarvis Dooney Gallery, Barcelona, Spain.
2019 One of Them Is a Human at Getxophoto, Bilbao, Spain.
2019 One of Them Is a Human at Gibellina Photoroad, Gibellina, Sicily.
2019 Coexistence, Kiasma, Museum of Modern Art, Helsinki, Finland.
2018 Body Politics, Kana Kawanishi Gallery, Tokyo, Japan.
2018 OFF festival, Bratislava, Slovakia.
2018 New Chic, at the Riga Photomonth, Riga, Latvia.
2018 True Beauty, at the Stedelijk Museum, Breda, Netherlands.
2017 New Voices, Light Work, Syracuse, US.
2017 Taylor Wessing photographic Portrait Prize 2017, National Portrait Gallery, London, UK.
2017 Nucleus, Noorderlicht Photofestival, Groningen, Netherlands.
2017 White Rabbit Fever at Landskrona Foto Festival, Landskrona, Sweden.
2017 Rules, Ascriptions, Kana Kawanishi Photography, Tokyo, Japan.
2017 Milky Way at Tokyo International Photography Festival, Tokyo, Japan
2016 Space, The Griffin Museum of Photography, USA
2016 One Clover and a Bee. And Revery at Happylucky no.1, New York, USA.
2016 Premiere presentation with East Wing, Unseen Photo Fair, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
2016 Aether, Jarvis Dooney Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
2016 Photo50, London Art Fair, UK
2015 Frame Stories, Lotrščak Tower, Organ Vida Photography Festival, Zagreb, Croatia.
2015 Next Generation, Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, Finland.
2015 The Curator at Foley gallery, New York, USA.
2015 Space and Sex, Photographic Centre Peri, Turku, Finland.
2014 Curated group exhibition at gallery Tanto Tempo, Kobe, Japan.
2013 Les Visas de l’ANI, Bar Floreal, Paris, France.

Film festivals

2023 The Problem of the Hydra at European Film Festival of Lille, France.
2023 The Problem of the Hydra at Minimalen Short Film Festival, Trondheim, Norway.
2022 The Problem of the Hydra at Metamorphoses – Static Vision, Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.
2022 The Problem of the Hydra at AFO, International Festival of Science Documentary films, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
2022 The Problem of the Hydra at REGARD – Saguenay International Short Film Festival, Canada.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Festival Tous Courts, Aix-en-Provence, France.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Les Ecrans Documentaires, Arcueil, France.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, Kassel, Germany.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Belo Horizonte International Short Film Festival, Brazil.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Imagine Science Film Festival, New York City, USA.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Nordisk Panorama, Malmö, Sweden.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Helsinki International Film Festival, Helsinki, Finland.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Sarajevo Film Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at THIS IS SHORT, European Short Film Network.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at Hot Docs 2021, Toronto, Canada.
2021 The Problem of the Hydra at DocPoint 2021, Helsinki, Finland.
2021 Unheroic Labours #2 at Ouroboros, Finnish Institute in Estonia’s film program, Tallinn, Estonia.

Awards and residencies

2024 The Finnish Photobook Award 2023 for the book Hulda/Lilli
2024 Nominated for Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize 2025, long list.
2024 Nominated for Below Zero Award 2025, one of the five finalists.
2023 Nominated for Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize 2024, long list.
2022 Winner of the Short Film Competition at AFO, International Festival of Science Documentary films, Olomouc, Czech Republic.
2021 New Point of View: Audience Award, THIS IS SHORT, European Short Film Network.
2020 Edvard Richter Award for the book Immortal, Finnish Art Society, Finland.
2019 Artist Professor 2020–2024, five-year grant and a title, Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
2018 Young Artist Award, Finnish Art Society
2017 John Kobal New Work Award
2017 Taylor Wessing photographic Portrait Prize (Third prize)
2016 Light Work Artist-In-Residence, Syracuse, USA
2016 Nominated Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize 2017, long list
2015 PDN The Curator Grand Prize
2015 Artist residency at Hôtel Chevillon in France for six months,
Finnish Cultural Foundation.
2014 Selected Center Sante Fe 100
2013 Patricia Seppälä Foundation: Photojournalism Award for Collective 11.
2012 New York Photo Festival Award in two categories: documentary series and multimedia.
2011 Fotofinlandia award, www.fotofinlandia.fi2011 Finland’s press photographer of the year 2010, www.suomenlehtikuvaajat.fi

Collections

2024 Aalto University, Espoo, Finland
2023 The Finnish State Art Commission, Finland
2023 The Finnish Museum of Photography, Finland,
2021 Fondazione Orestiadi, Gibellina, Italy
2020 Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland.
2020 The Finnish State Art Commission, Finland
2019 Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, USA
2018 Contemporary Art Museum Kiasma, Helsinki, Finland.
2018 National Portrait Gallery, London, UK.
2017 Light Work Collection, Syracuse, USA.
2016 Happylucky no.1 gallery, New York, USA.
2014 GalleriZEBRA gallery, Karjaa, Finland
Private collections in Helsinki, Kauniainen, Turku, London, New York and Taipei.

Curatorial projects

2020 Co-curator with Louise Wolthers, Sara Walker and Melanie Vandenbrouck and Hannu Vanhanen for Space Works exhibition at Tampere Art Museum, Tampere, Finland.
2020 Co-curator with Ariane Koek, Lars Willumeit and Hannu Vanhanen for Related Realities exhibition at Backlight2020, Tampere Finland
2016 Co-curator with Harri Pälviranta for five-month gallery project Reikä in Helsinki, Finland.