Juliana Hyrri: Summertime blisters

Summertime Blisters is a bittersweet reflection on daily life, fantasy, and the quiet violence of unfulfilled expectations. 

I had just applied bleach to my hair on the tram

the sting prickled my nose hairs,

my eyes watered,

and I needed to get home

before the paste burned my hair off.

But no new tram arrived

the lynx clung to my feet,

someone opened their hands

with a K-Menu beer clenched in a tight fist,

A Mars bar wrapper spun beside us,

in the twirls of a miniature thrombus.

The hydrogen peroxide froze

solidifying into pale rods

that framed my face

like a shimmering funeral wreath

around the frosted body of the Snow Queen.

These works flicker between nighly snacks and butterflies in the stomach, expensive bouquets and the dizzying flight of a third wheel. They dwell in the delusion that birds sleep at night. Everything here tastes and smells like a summer already gone.

Juliana Hyrri (b. 1989) is an Estonian-born visual artist, painter, and cartoonist. She received her Master of Fine Arts from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2023. In addition to numerous private collections, Hyrri’s works are part of the collections at Kiasma, the Riihisaari Art Museum, the Nelimarkka Foundation, and the cities of Ylöjärvi and Kangasala. She has been awarded the State Prize for comics and Illustration Art.

The studio's exhibition is supported by the The Finnish Heritage Agency.

Exhibition at Kulttuuritalo Laikku Studio, Keskustori 4, Tampere.

Open Tue – Fri 9 am – 8 pm, Sat – Sun 10

am – 6 pm. Free admission.

For more information about the

exhibitions at Kulttuuritalo Laikku:

Irma Puttonen

Leading coordinator

irma.puttonen@tampere.fi+358 50 553 8673

City of Tampere, Puplic Cultural

Services