Down Under by Reet Salonen and Substantial Strength - Sacrifice by Elis Liivo at A-Galerii Windows

Artist list

Elis Liivo, Reet Salonen

Down Under by Reet Salonen

The exhibition Down Under stems from jewelry artist Reet Salonen’s long-standing fascination with Oceania. Over the course of her travels during the past six years, she has drawn inspiration from the landscapes of New Zealand, the “great red land” of Australia, and the exoticism of Samoa, as well as from the unique cultures and people of these places. Her most recent works were completed this year, immediately following a trip in February to Melbourne and Western Australia. The exhibition brings together the essence of these distant continents in a direct dialogue with chosen materials.

In Salonen’s words:
In creating these works, I have drawn impulses from flights across the oceans and the Great Barrier Reef, from the underwater world there, and from long road trips through Australia, New Zealand, and Samoa. Subterranean themes also played an important role: mineral resources, copper mines, gemstones, and Australian gold. The exhibition also features the brooch Half of My Heart, which incorporates a rare zebra stone purchased in Perth, found naturally only in the Kimberley region of Western Australia near Kununurra.

My travel memories have settled into a holistic symbiosis of experiences, into a creative practice in which I do not seek to produce a direct copy of a specific object, but rather to convey an intuitive reflection of accumulated impressions.
All of the jewelry pieces in the exhibition are unique works. In them, I have used materials found, purchased, or received as gifts during my travels, and primarily silver, copper, and brass as metals. To me, Australia is best characterized by copper, it is reddish like the earth there itself.

Reet Salonen (Mängel-Juuse) is a jewelry artist, designer, gallerist, and painter born in Pärnu and currently based in Helsinki. She holds a degree in industrial design from the Estonian Academy of Arts. As a metal artist, she is a bold experimenter whose creative method is rooted in direct engagement with materials. Salonen has participated in numerous international solo and group exhibitions and has received significant professional recognition for her work. Her pieces are included, among others, in the Finnish National Art Collection, and she is a member of both the Estonian Association of Metal Artists and the Finnish Jewellery Art Association. This exhibition marks the artist’s first solo jewelry exhibition in Estonia.


Substantial Strength - Sacrifice by Elis Liivo

Something hidden within us lays the foundation for both what is desired and what is unwanted. How often do we stop to think about what this force is and why it was created? Yet without it, none of our good deeds or less noble acts, considered decisions or foolish mistakes, would ever come to pass. (Perhaps I would even leave unsaid those fatefully necessary and/or unnecessary words to someone important…).

We are born with this something, a substantial force, that often resists conscious control. And perhaps that is for the best, because when inner balance exists, this force sustains everything essential in life: love, care, the desire to surpass oneself, and the search for meaning beyond mere existence. The possibility of sacrificing oneself for something greater, something that outlives our physical condition. Through this, we remain connected to our ancestors and future generations, giving existence both power and purpose. To be connected to another, to be understood, to be influenced by something higher, to exist and simply be in this world as a creator and, when necessary, also a destroyer. (Seen positively, every painful ending grants the soul strength to awaken, to clarify, and to become brighter.)

But where does this force truly come from? The power to create from embryonic nothingness and, in the end, to dissolve all that has existed only to rise again, endure, and hopefully continue into infinity.

Everything that exists belongs to everyone and originates from within ourselves, and because of this, life becomes a chain reaction of something none of us can rationally put into words. Yet change can begin by directing one’s will toward something better and more enduring, sacrificing for it the strength bestowed upon us from above. Human greatness lies in the ability to direct one’s life force where it serves both oneself (so as not to become a martyr) and others alike. Every strength is eventually exhausted, yet what remains is a trace of what once existed, measured against the transience of time.

The works in the exhibition Substantial Strength - Sacrifice are dedicated to labour and perseverance. The ancient-style women’s jewelry created by Elis Liivo draws from old beliefs according to which jewelry empowered its wearer through the clinking and chiming sounds it produced when worn. The artist has empowered the works with her own hair, seeing it as an energetic material that maintains both a conceptual and physical connection to the pieces even after her death. Also presented are rings from the collection Erosion, illustrating the coexistence of what exists and what disappears, forces that simultaneously create and undermine.

Elis Liivo (1990) is a conceptual jewelry artist originally from Hiiumaa, a small Estonian island. Through themes of identity and heritage, Liivo explores emotions and personal experiences, examining the often invisible layers of human existence, their fragility and strength alike. She studied in the Department of Jewelry and Blacksmithing at the Estonian Academy of Arts from 2021 to 2025 and furthered her studies at Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, as well as through an internship at the Spanish company Crisopeya. Liivo is the founder of the jewelry brand ZYLELY. She has participated in several international exhibitions, including the Lisbon Jewellery Biennial, Munich Jewellery Week, and the Transylvania Jewelry Festival. In 2026, her solo exhibition at A-Galerii’s WINDOWS and the group exhibition Genius Loci 7 at Reigi Pastoraat will take place.


The exhibitions in A-Galerii are supported by the Estonian Cultural Endowment.