This triptych was created in response to Julia 's mother living with Alzheimer’s disease. The three paintings explore memory, presence and disappearance through layered surfaces and gestures.
Julia’s mother used to paint, and the works build on traces that already existed. Rather than starting from an empty canvas, Julia worked with what remained, continuing from marks and fragments that were already present.
In the first painting, both Julia’s and her mother’s gestures remain visible. Their marks overlap, allowing two presences to exist within the same image.
In the second painting, the image has been completely painted over. This gesture reflects the gradual disappearance that accompanies Alzheimer’s. Julia continued working over the surface after her mother could no longer paint, not to erase the earlier marks but to extend the painting beyond them.
The third work shows two figures that stand for mother and daughter.
The title Äiti ja minä is Finnish for “mother and me”. Julia calls her mother Äiti. The title refers to Julia’s connection to Finland and to the role language can play in processing experience, returning to the sounds and words that feel most familiar.
Together, the three works reflect on presence, absence and the act of continuing with what remains.