Hanna Råst

I have recently been especially interested in shelters, containers and hiding places. All are ways of concealing and protecting the contents, be that the human mind, knowledge, a creature, an object or a memory. The act of concealing and hiding also makes one think about what it is that we want to preserve or keep safe. Is it always something that we hold important and dear to us, or can we also see something foreign and alien as worth protecting and keeping? 

The act of giving up a hiding place and stepping out in the open provides another perspective on the concept of shelter. I intend to spend my time at the Saari Residence immersing myself more deeply in these themes. My goal is to read, listen out, experiment and explore where these thoughts take me and what kind of art they make me produce. I work with both moving images and small-scale sculpture.

Hanna Råst (born in 1986) is a Helsinki-based visual artist working with lens-based media, text and sculpture using a variety of materials. Her work delves into themes of transience and memory, which she often explores through the perspectives of archaeology, psychology and ecology. Often drawing from a range of archives, such as photographs, narratives and found objects, her practice reflects on the past’s influence on the present as well as the future. Råst’s works have been featured in several group exhibitions, and she has also hosted private exhibitions in Finland and abroad, with the most recent examples including ‘Weak Signals’ at the Hobusepea gallery in Tallinn (2025), ‘Reminiscences’ at the ISELP contemporary art centre in Brussels (2025), ‘Ida Koitila / Hanna Råst’ at the Anhava gallery in Helsinki (2025) and ‘Being There’ at the Le Clézio gallery in Paris (2024).