CV
ELISA ALALUUSUA
b. 1970 Rovaniemi, Finland

https://www.ealaluusua.co.uk/
studio: http://pullensopen.org/?avada_portfolio=elisa-aluusua

Elisa Alaluusua is a visual artist working with video and drawing. She grew up on a reindeer farm in Lapland and has spend twenty years in London while maintaining strong personal and professional links to Finland. Alaluusua has been exhibiting internationally since the beginning of the 1990s and curated a number of international events.

Alaluusua says that: “I have always been interested in microhistories and family connections, how we are affected by lineage and our attachment to places. What is ‘home’, to where do we belong? I constantly observe the world from the point-of-view of an outsider, ‘the other’. Our personal and collective memories play a central role in our sense of identity, hence have been a life-long fascination for me. I am intrigued by our individual and shared journeys, be those through physical landscape and time, or in the depths of our minds.”

In 2022 Alaluusua’s video drawing Unconceivable Line was awarded the 1st prize in the prestigious Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2022 exhibition following the success of her Unconditional Line that won the 2nd prize in Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015. Her Sketchbooks installation, based on her practice-based PhD, started its world tour in 2016 and has since been shown in Finland, the UK, the US and Australia. Alaluusua’s video drawings have been exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the Garden Museum in London, and the Yale Centre of British Art in the US, to name a few.

EDUCATION
2009-2016 PhD, Chelsea College of Art, University of the Arts London. Thesis: Sketchbooks –
A Comparative Analysis of the Use of Sketchbooks by Contemporary Artists.
1991-1999 MA in Art Education, University of Lapland, Finland
1996 Jan-April, Visiting student program, Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design,
London, UK
1994-1995 MA in Art as Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
1989-1991 Visual artisan in Drawing, The Lybecker Institute of Crafts and Design, Finland

MEMBERSHIPS
2020 – Artists’ Association of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland
2017 – Artists’ Association MUU, Helsinki, Finland
2008 – Bermondsey Artists’ Group BAG, London, UK

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS
2022 Muistin ytimessä / Memory Nuclei, Gallery Duetto, Helsinki, Finland
2021 Maassa, Gallery Katve 2, Arktikum, Rovaniemi, Finland
2020 Ehdoton, Gallery Katve 2, Arktikum, Rovaniemi, Finland
2020 Alaluusua On Alaluusua – Propositio(n), Gallery Lovisa, Rovaniemi, Finland
2020 Slice Of Sketchbooks, Gallery Kopio, University Of Lapland, Rovaniemi, Finland
2018 Sketchbooks: A Revelation, Art Space Gallery, London, UK
2017 Sketchbooks: An Obsession, Drawing Projects UK, Trowbridge, UK
2016 Study – Sketchbooks, Gallery Katariina, Helsinki, Finland
2020 Thirteen Narratives By Thirteen Artists About Their Sketchbooks,
The Morgue, UAL, London, UK
2014 Sketching Sketchbooks, Westminster School Gallery, London, UK
2014 10.000 Circles Over The Weekend -Drawing Event, Pullens Yards Open Studio, London
2013 24h Drawing IV – 22nd to 23rd Oct 2013, Horace Mann, Riverdale, New York City, US
2012 24h Drawing II – 29th to 30th Nov 2012, Pullens Yards Open Studios, London, UK
2012 24h Drawing I – 11th to 12th Sept 2012, Westminster School Gallery, London, UK
https://vimeo.com/125402347
2000 London Calling, Kummi Gallery, Oulu, Finland
1999 London Calling, Karhu Gallery, Rovaniemi, Finland
1996 Henge, Finnish Institute, London, UK

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2022 Aika ja Ajallisuus, Gallery Valo, Rovaniemi, Finland (upcoming)
2022 BOOKED 2022, MUU at Kaapelitehdas, Finland (upcoming)
2022 Taiteilijakirjanäyttely, Gallery Duetto, Helsinki, Finland
2021 Lovisan Kesä IV, Gallery Lovisa, Rovaniemi, Finland
2021 Näkymätön Näkyvässä, Voipaalan Taidekeskus, Valkeakoski, Finland
2020 36th Open, Lake Gallery, Bermondsey, London, UK
2020 Art of Research VII online exhibition, Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland
2020 XXX, Gallery Gallery Valo, Arktikum, Rovaniemi, Finland
2020 Lovisan Kesä III, Gallery Lovisa, Rovaniemi, Finland
2019 Kuollutta Lihaa, Gallery Valo, Arktikum, Rovaniemi, Finland
2019 RE-BAG Exhibition, Southwark Park Galleries / Lake Gallery, London, UK
2019 Wells Art Contemporary 2019, Wells Cathedral, Wells, UK
2019 Eileen Hogan’s Sketchbooks –Video In Eileen Hogan’s exhibition at
Yale Centre For British Art, US
2019 Outpost 2, BAG Bermondsey Artist Group -exhibition, Shortwave, London, UK
2019 Pullens Exhibition 22, Pullens Yards, London, UK
2018 Muu-Gala 2018 Tour, Joensuu, Helsinki, Finland; St. Petersburg, Russia
2018 Drawing Strength, Curators Jo Lane & Jeannette Davison, Montsalvat,
Melbourne, Australia
2018 Al Vif (From Life), Spaceus, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, Boston, Ma, US
2018 Outpost, Bag–Exhibition, Shortwave, London
2018 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017. Touring in the Edge, Bath University; Sidney Cooper Gallery, Canterbury; Vane Gallery, Newcastle; Drawing Projects UK, Trowbridge, UK
2017 Taiteilijakirjanäyttely II Artist’s Book Exhibition II, Gallery Katariina, Helsinki, Finland
2017 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2017, Jerwood Space, London; East Gallery,
Norwich University Of The Arts, UK
2016 Pullens Exhibition 19/19A, Pullens Yards, London, UK
2016 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015. Unconditional Line video drawing awarded
The Second Prize. Touring In Falmouth Art Gallery; Sidney Cooper Gallery,
Canterbury, UK
2015 We All Draw @ UAL. Curated by Tania Kovats And Kelly Chorpening, UAL, London, UK
2015 Jerwood Drawing Prize 2015, Jerwood Space, London; Cheltenham Art Gallery, UK
2015 Art From The Pullens, Pullens Yards, London, UK
2015 Pool, Bag (Bermondsey Artist Group) Exhibition, CGP London, UK
2014 Portrait Of Dale Inglis –Video (11’32’’), The Fire Sermon with Dale Inglis,
The Blackshed Gallery, Robertsbridge, UK https://vimeo.com/98088330
2013 24h Drawing III – 3rd to 4th Apr 2013, Paperbag, CGP London, UK
2012 Sketchbooks Of Michael Sandle video, Driven to Draw: 20C Drawings and Sketchbooks from the Royal Academy’s Collection, The Royal Academy Of Arts, London, UK
2011 Concretum - BAG Exhibition, Dilston Grove, London, UK
2010 Something For The Weekend Action Drawing, Bag Group Show, Biscuit Factory,
London, UK
2010 ‘1916’ PhD Exhibition, Triangle Space, Chelsea, UAL, London, UK
2009 The Centre for Drawing at WCA Group Show, Centre for Drawing, Wimbledon,
UAL, London, UK
2009 Rummage – Bermondsey Artists’ Group Show BAG, CGP, London, UK
2008 Home Far Away –video In Bermondsey Artists’ Group BAG event Twilight, London, UK
2008 My Kemijarvi –Video, Entry For Guy Maddin’s Your Winnipeg Competition. Shortlisted.
2008 Pasi Goes To Work, 2-Screen video projection 11’40’’,
Midnight Sun Film Festival, Sodankylä, Finland
2007 Coming & Going looped video projection, 23th Open, Southwark park, London, UK
2003 Lottovoittajat Lontoossa documentary of Finns living in London 45min,
Finnish Seamen’s Church & private screenings, London, UK
2002 Artist In Print Too group exhibition, Hays Gallery–Cottons Atrium, London, UK
1999 Ice Mosaic Project with Photo Association of Northern Region, Rovaniemi, Finland
1999 Daughters Of Taivalkoski, collected childhood memories performed collectively, Taivalkoski workshop, Taivalkoski, Finland
1998 Reality in My Eyes - Meeting the Other and Our Subjectivity -exhibition
exploring methodology in cultural history, Rovaniemi, Finland
1996 Shoreditch - Public Art Project with sculptor Raimi Gadamosi. Hackney, London, UK. Shortlisted.
1996 Nightless Nights - Environmental art event by group Luminous Support invited by Rovaniemi Art Museum. Site-specific works & performances, Rovaniemi, Finland
1995 Taste - group exhibition. MMU, Manchester, UK
1995 River-Project, Assistant For Artist Jussi Heikkilä, finished piece Ounas exhibited
at the Rovaniemi Art Museum, Finland.
1995 Gotta Do Something – Environmental art project with Terhi Lähde,
six temporary site-specific sculptures in urban sites around Rovaniemi, Finland
1995 Test Tube - Group Exhibition. MMU, Manchester, UK
1994 Here We Are - Projections as part of the proposal for regenerating
the non-site beneath the Mancunian Way, Manchester, UK

SELECTED COMMISSIONED VIDEOS & CURATORIAL WORK
2022 Juuret/Roots, Galleries Valo, Katve I & II, Arktikum, Rovaniemi, exhibition by Faculty of Art & Design, University of Lapland, Curator.
2019 North Wind 2, Gallery Valo, Arktikum, Rovaniemi, Finland. Co-curator.
2019 RE-BAG exhibition, Southwark Park Galleries / Lake Gallery, London, UK. Curated with Louise Sheridan and Martin Pover.
2019 Outpost 2, BAG–exhibition, Shortwave, London, UK. Curated with Louise Sheridan.
2019 Lecture Publique Internationale De L’iliade, Westminster School and Lyon’s 13th Festival Européen Latin et Grec, 23’30’’. Commissioned video.
2018 Outpost, BAG–exhibition, Shortwave, London, UK. Curated with Louise Sheridan.
2018 Suomi 100 /Minun Suomeni / My Finland -photography competition judge, London, UK
2017 Platform -video for Westminster School, London, UK. 2mins
2017 Eileen Hogan’s Sketchbooks -video, 12’20’’, in Eileen Hogan: Artist-not-in-Residence, the Garden Museum, London; exhibited at the Yale Centre for British Art, USA in 2019
2015 Pojat Joella / Boys by the River –video, 4’25’ commission for the Alternative Sibelius project https://vimeo.com/122514639
2014 Christmas Greetings from Finnish Church London, 4’37’’, Finnish Seamen’s Church,
London, UK
2010 Something for The Weekend -action drawing, BAG group show, Biscuit Factory, London, UK. Curated with Charlie Fox.
2007 Sixth Form Stations –video for Westminster School, London, UK. 46 min
2007 Truth & Light for NERVE-Supersize Cities project / Part 1, 6’20’’
2006 Fifth Form Stations -video for Westminster School, London, UK. 30 min

GRANTS
2023-25, TAIKE – Arts Promotion Centre Finland; 2020, the Finnish Cultural Foundation (together with Tuija Hautala-Hirvioja & Leila Lipiäinen), Lapland; 2019, 2016, 2014, 2013, 2009 Zilkha Fund, Westminster School; 2017, The Finnish Institute in London; 2016 Emil Aaltonen Foundation; 2016, 2014, 2013, 2009 Zilkha Fund, Westminster School; 2013 Student Support Fund, UAL; 2012 Getty Foundation Bursary; 2012, 2011, 2010 Grad Fund, University of the Arts London (UAL); 1998 University of Lapland, International Affairs; 1996 Valto Pernu Foundation, Finnish Church Guild, University of Lapland Foundation; 1994 & 1995 Heikki ja Hilma Honkanen Foundation; 1995 Matti Kostamovaara Foundation; 1994, University of Lapland Foundation, Alfred Kordelin Foundation, ERASMUS exchange grant.