BIO
Born in 1970 in Motala, Sweden
Lives and work in Jyväskylä, Finland
Carita Ahonen is an artist and biodesigner born in 1970 in Motala, Sweden, now living and working in Jyväskylä, Finland. Working across painting, material research, and spatial thinking, she is known for medium to large-scale abstract works built from earth pigments, clay-based media, and experimental biomaterials. Her work is rooted in a single conviction: that the body responds to its surroundings and what they are made from, with consequences that are both physical and psychological.
Her paintings are shaped by how the natural world operates at geological and microscopic scales, surfaces formed by material behaviour as much as by hand. Pigments settle, fracture, and erode in ways that resist full control, and this material intelligence remains visible in the finished work. A parallel strand of her work develops bio-based sculptural objects and spatial works, extending the same material philosophy into three dimensions.
Ahonen holds a BA in Interior Architecture and Design from Savonia University of Applied Sciences and is accredited in Living Future Architecture and Biophilic Design through the International Living Future Institute (ILFI), Seattle. Her biobased materials research is supported by Koneen Säätiö (2023–2026) and Asko säätiö (2022).
Selected exhibitions include resurGemus, Joensuu Botania (2019); Rakkaudesta revenneet, VB-valokuvakeskus, Kuopio (2016); Perintö, Väinölän taidekeskus, Varkaus (2015); and Ilmailua, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (2013).
ARTIST STATEMENT
Ahonen’s work begins with the body’s response to matter, place and environment. Her paintings move between two scales: from above, where the earth appears as a whole and water finds its own paths, and closer in, where similar forms appear at geological, mineral and cellular levels.
The materials are not neutral. Earth pigments, clay, mineral compounds, ground burnt wood and natural water have been moving, settling and changing long before they enter the studio. In the paintings, surface is formed through both material behaviour and the act of making. The two are inseparable.
Ahonen came to natural materials through health necessity, after becoming unable to work with acrylic paint. What began as a limitation became a deeper material language: a way of working with substances that carry geological memory, human history and a sense of belonging older than personal origin. The works are quiet, but not passive. They ask for time, proximity and attention.
BIODESIGN NOTE
The BioDesign strand of the practice develops from the same material philosophy as the paintings. Through experimental bio-based composites, natural binders, pigments and organic matter, Ahonen explores how surface, object and spatial form can emerge from materials that remain connected to the living world.
These works are currently developing as sculptural objects, wall-based studies and spatial material pieces.
CV
SELECTED EDUCATION
2023–2024 Continuing professional development, Lighting Design, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Kuopio, Finland
2020–2022 LFA & Biophilic Design Accreditation, ILFI, Seattle, USA
2015–2019 BA Interior Architecture and Design, Savonia University of Applied Sciences, Kuopio, Finland
GRANTS
2023–2026 Koneen Säätiö, Helsinki, Finland
2022 Asko Säätiö, Helsinki, Finland
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2026 Estate, La Fiaba Taidegalleria, Jyväskylä, Finland (04.-30.06.2026)
2019 resurGemus, Joensuu Botania, Joensuu, Finland
2016 Rakkaudesta revenneet , VB-valokuvakeskus, Kuopio, Finland
2015 Perintö, Väinölän taidekeskus, Varkaus, Finland
2013 Ilmailua, Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Vantaa, Finland
PRESS / PUBLICATIONS
2026 Art Seen Magazine, selected artist featured in Issue 21 August, UK