“Let’s live in friendship!” refers to a text that was found on a blackboard of a schoolhouse in Novyi Bykiv in Chernihiv Oblast in Ukraine after the pillage by Russian soldiers. The exhibition is presented across the street from the Russian embassy in Tallinn and alludes critically to a self-contradictory Russian propaganda campaign.
Mari Männa has combined playful artwork and documentary found material in her unique world. The landscape she has created refers to a location flushed by conflicting energy. The formed installation can appear as a frozen moment in this chaos. Männa started to work with her new sculptures before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Her half-figures began to embody the ongoing events while taking on the emotions, postures and objects of the changing society.
Mari Männa (b. 1991) is a sculpture and installation artist. She obtained MA degree in contemporary art at the Estonian Academy of Arts in 2020. During her studies, Männa took additional courses in Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and Aalto University in Helsinki. Männa’s artistic method is intuitive and process based, she experiments with lightweight and available materials. As for the subject matter, the artist prefers to reflect on today’s social issues through the prism of humour.
Artwork materials: expandable foam, polyurethane foam, plaster, jesmonite, epoxy, fiberglass, aluminum wire, wood, silicone, rubber, leather, acrylic pigment, ammunition belt
Graphic design: Henri Kutsar
Thank you: Piret Männa, Solveig Lill, Iaroslav Iakubivskyi, Kristjan-Julius Laak, Saara-Nette Tõugjas
Photography: Mari Männa, Anna Mari Liivrand
Exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Exhibitions in Draakon gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia,
Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko Ltd.
Exhibition by Mari Männa
Title: Let’s Live in Friendship!
Open: 20.09.-12.10.2022
Draakon Gallery, Pikk 18, Tallinn.
Mon-Fri 11.00-18.00, Sat 11.00-17.00
Photos by Anna Mari Liivrand & Mari Männa