The art exhibition explores the connections and entanglements between birds and humans.
The exhibition What the Birds Tell Us, on view at Café Antell Piha in Oulu, invites visitors to explore birds as both ecological indicators and cultural storytellers. Through wool-based artworks, the exhibition examines the intertwined relationships between nature and human life in northern environments.
The exhibition emerged from the Wool Innovation project and collaboration with Sámi artist Maarit Magga. The featured works build connections between ecological knowledge, cultural heritage and contemporary art while encouraging reflection on human relationships with other species.
The exhibition features works by Maarit Magga, Minna Kovero, Tatiana Kravtsov and Elina Luiro.
Maarit Magga’s installation Tit, Human and Reindeer explores reciprocal relationships between humans, birds and reindeer, highlighting respect expressed through everyday practices and duodji-based traditions.
Minna Kovero’s wool embroidery Cygnus cygnus mythologicus draws from northern bird myths and traditional narratives. The work reflects on the cultural significance of the whooper swan and the interconnectedness between humans and nature.
Tatiana Kravtsov’s Arctic Loon – Beyond the Surface uses the loon’s ability to move across water, sky and depth as a metaphor for the human capacity to move beyond fixed perspectives and navigate uncertainty with awareness and sensitivity.
Elina Luiro’s series of wool paintings, Why Don’t the Birds Sing Anymore?, focuses on Finnish bird species whose voices and habitats are disappearing. Her works draw attention to biodiversity loss and how it reshapes our soundscapes and memories.
The exhibition is part of the ASAD-networks (Arctic Sustainable Arts and Design) exhibition series Parallel North: Shared Ecocultural Entanglements, which explores northern and Arctic phenomena from an ecocultural perspective. The exhibition series is curated by Professor Timo Jokela.
Elina Luiro, Why Don’t the Birds Sing Anymore? Photograph: Minna Kovero, 2026.
Tatiana Kravtsov, Arctic Loon – Beyond the Surface, Embroidery and needle-felting (left); Minna Kovero, Cygnus cygnus mythologicus, Wool embroidery (right). Photographs: Minna Kovero, 2026.
Maarit Magga, Tit, Human and Reindeer, Installation. Photograph: Minna Kovero, 2026.
Maarit Magga, Tit, Human and Reindeer, Installation. Photograph: Minna Kovero, 2026.
Elina Luiro, Why Don’t the Birds Sing Anymore? Photograph: Minna Kovero, 2026.
The exhibition is on display from 1 to 27 June 2026 at Café Antell Piha in Oulu, Finland.
Further information:
Elina Luiro, elina.luiro (at) ulapland.fi