Maria Kapajeva. I Am A Border (working title)
Curator: Siim Preiman, Exhibition designer: Anu Vahtra
A border is something between two sides. You are one or the other, inside or outside. But what if you are neither – are you then a border yourself? This exhibition, composed of photographs, videos, installations, textiles and other media, is the result of more than a decade of artistic research. True to Maria Kapajeva’s practice, the subject matter is autobiographical; yet through intimations of intergenerational repetitions, it speaks to broader human concerns – migration, belonging, heritage, body and relationships. Drawing on her camera, craft techniques and a range of objects and images from her family archive, Kapajeva portrays the border not as a fixed line, but as a state of constant transition: never fully one thing, never fully becoming the other.
This exhibition is further shaped by the fact that, for the past few years, Maria Kapajeva has lived and worked in the Estonian Artists’ Association’s studio apartment right next to the Art Hall Pavilion. During this time, she has organised various events there and also taken part in the pavilion’s community garden. The exhibition has thus developed with the local community in mind.
Maria Kapajeva (she/her) is an artist whose work explores questions of identity and gender through states of in-betweenness and transition, often bringing peripheral stories into the visible centre. Her works are held in museum collections such as the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and the Tartu Art Museum. She is currently pursuing a PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts and is a recipient of the Estonian artist salary. Her past exhibitions include By Losing Them, I Become a Whole at Kogo Gallery in Tartu (2025), When the World Blows Up, I Hope to Go Down Dancing at Tallinn Art Hall Gallery (2020) and Dream is Wonderful, Yet Unclear at Narva Art Residency (2017).