Maria unlocks her life

Maria unlocks her life

When Maria Vesterinen came to Australia on a working holiday from Finland in 2009, she had no idea how much her life would change.

Maria was accepted into a fine arts degree at Monash University, and moved to Docklands in 2010 with her partner Matt.

Now in her final year of study, Maria has been given an opportunity to show her work at Louey & Lane Gallery in her first ever solo exhibition, Unlocked.

Maria says her exhibition, which features sculpture and photography, has been heavily influenced by her life in Australia.

“When I moved here, my world just opened up,” Maria said. “It made me understand so much more about different people, how they live – values. That affected my work a lot.”

Maria said life in Docklands was incredibly different from Finland.

“All the birds around – parrots, which I still haven’t gotten used to – that bright flash in front of your eyes!”

Maria loves that Melbourne is so multi-cultural, and that people tend to be “happy and smiley” because the sun is out.

“When it gets sunny you just want to go out or open the balcony doors and look at the water,” she said.

The music, art and great options for vegetarians make Maria feel right at home in Docklands.

“The art scene in Helsinki is really small compared to Melbourne,” Maria said. “Every time you walk around the corner here there are a couple of little galleries, and it’s great.”

Maria counts among her artistic influences Tim Burton, Salvador Dali, and the Finnish symbolist Hugo Simberg.

Unlocked can be seen at Louey & Lane Gallery, 1136 Glenhuntly Rd, Glen Huntly from October 31.

She also said she was “kind of a geek” with an interest in science and the work of Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

“The photo series I’m doing, it’s heavily charged with narrative,” Maria said. “The work is easy to approach, but the main meaning behind it is asking you to go a bit further. It’s asking you to search for knowledge.”

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