What does it mean to allow earlier works to “haunt” later ones — can paintings carry their own afterlives?
12.3.2026 Artist talk with Jane Hughes, hosted by Dahlia El Broul
From 10:00–11:30 on Zoom (request link via )
Jane Hughes (b. 1984, Dublin) lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. She was previously based in Berlin for over a decade. Her practice encompasses painting, drawing and installation, and focuses on remnants of the past, weaving connections between personal and social histories and the imprints of shifting landscapes.
She explores decay and displacement through ruins and disintegrating memory, shaped by transcultural lived experience. Ghosts, bones and fossils permeate the work as she investigates links between geology and the supernatural. Recurring visual cues reappear across paintings, allowing earlier works to quietly haunt later ones. Her practice evokes the uneasy familiarity of half-remembered places and develops a visual grammar in which painting becomes a site of slow perception rather than rapid image consumption.
Recent exhibitions include Crossing Paths (with Mari Mäkiö), Galleria Huuto, Helsinki (2026), and the solo exhibition Everything Soft Slowly Turned to Bone, The North Atlantic Lighthouse, Hanstholm, Denmark (2025). She has exhibited internationally at institutions including VISUAL Carlow, Ireland; the State Gallery of Kaliningrad, Russia; and Kunsthalle am Hamburger Platz, Berlin.
Hughes received her MA in Environmental Art from Aalto University, Helsinki (2012), including a year at the MA programme Art in Context at UdK Berlin (2010–2011), and her BA in Fine Art Painting from the National College of Art & Design, Dublin (2006). Her work is held in the Irish State Collection (Department of Foreign Affairs), the Finnish State Art Deposit Collection, HUS Helsinki University Hospital Collection, and the National IrishVisual Arts Library (NIVAL).
More info: https://janehughes.ie
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[Image description: A woman sits on a pale pink-covered sofa in a bright artist’s studio, surrounded by large, colorful abstract landscape paintings leaning against the walls. She wears a mauve paint-splattered outfit and striped socks, resting her head on her hand. Sunlight streams through a window filled with plants. On the floor are small white architectural models and art materials.]
Image Credit: Azar Saiyar, Studio portrait, 2025.
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Art School Maa follows ethical guidelines against any form of discrimination. Please read the guidelines for working together sent as attachment before attending the event. Equity guidelines can be found on the website as well.
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The Catalysti X Taidekoulu Maa Lecture Series project is supported by @taikegram
