INFO
SAARA HALMINEN they/them
Helsinki, Finland

Born 2003


inquiries:
saara.halminen@gmail.com

instagram


Halminen (b. 2003, Oulu) is a multimedia artist based in Helsinki, Finland. Currently studying painting in the Academy of Fine Arts Helsinki, they work across various media, including installation, video, sculpting, 3D, and graphic art. Still mostly focusing on the long background in oil painting, their work is affected by the eyes of a painter.

Currently, Halminen is working with themes around queer worldbuilding, psychoanalysis and combining these two very broad perspectives in concepts of pleasure and art practice itself. Pleasure has been central to their thinking almost violently. Focusing on pleasure in daily life almost obsessively reveals liminalities and a demand for movement and constant transformation.


During the last year (2025), Halminen has been working as an artist and project manager in a long-term production for Oulu 2026 - European Capital of Culture. Halminen has been temporarily studying at the Academy of Fine Art Prague in 2025. Their works have been exhibited in Oulu and Helsinki, and they are currently working on their BA exhibition, taking place in August 2026.


CV
Hair by me for a gender reveal, 2022

Saara Halminen

Hair by me for a gender reveal, 2022

wearable sculpture made with synthetic hair


Hair by me for a gender reveal is an art piece made by braiding synthetic hair pieces into a ten meters long rope.

Artwork is made to be worn as an accessory or clothing and it’s modifiable.


Piece is inspired by Japanese shibari, in which a person is tied
up as an artform but also for sexual pleasure.
I use hair to discuss topics like gender expression. Hair is often treated as a gender confirming element that defines a persons identity. Self expression is often limited to the gender you
define as, and these expectations can be even stronger for trans people. As your life may depend on passing as the gender you identify as, options for expression are far more limited than
for cis-gender people.