Joosep Kivimäe (EE, b. 1994) is a Tallinn-based visual artist and photographer. In his work, he explores the structures that characterise consumer society, focusing on the blurred lines between public and private spheres in the information age, and probing the relationship between humans and technology. Kivimäe’s upcoming exhibitions include the group exhibition Play at Fotografiska Tallinn, as well as exhibitions in Oulu, Finland, and Punctum Gallery, Tallinn.

At Foto Tallinn 2026, Kivimäe presents a selection of works from multiple series – both recent and ongoing – exploring the structures of consumer society, the relationship between humans and technology, and the role of the Baltic Sea as a transport corridor.

Artist is presented by Punctum Gallery

Kristina Õllek (EE, b. 1989) is a visual artist working across photography, video and installation. Educated at the Estonian Academy of Arts, she has a research-driven practice that explores aquatic ecosystems, geological matter, and human-altered environments. She has exhibited widely across Europe, including at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Sopot State Art Gallery, with further works held in major public collections.

At Foto Tallinn, Õllek presents a recent series of inkjet prints on aluminium with pigmented clay and honeycomb structures, previously shown in her For All at Last Return exhibition at Newcastle’s Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The works respond to the discovery of ‘dark oxygen’ produced by manganese nodules – minerals capable of generating oxygen without sunlight – while addressing the ethical and environmental implications of deep-sea mining.

Artist is presented by Kogo Gallery

Jói Kjartans (IS/NO, b. 1983) is a photographer from Reykjavik, Iceland, currently based in Oslo, Norway. His work has been exhibited internationally – at festivals such as Oslo Negativ, The Nordic Light, Landskrona Photo Festival, and The Iceland Photo Festival – whilst his images have been published by the likes of Dazed,  The Observer, VICE Magazine, Men’s Health USA, and Bloomberg Business News. Kjartans has self-published two photobooks, with a new third title soon to be released. His work forms part of the 7th edition of the Norwegian Journal of Photography, showcasing photographers working between traditional press photography and art photography. 

Kjartans’ long-term Huldufólk series follows the artist’s search for the ‘hidden people’ of Iceland – supernatural beings in Icelandic folklore that are often said to live in nature. This series makes its world exhibition debut at Foto Tallinn. Under the tutelage of mentors such as Bieke Depoorter and Peter van Agtmael, the project was developed over a two-year period for the Norwegian Journal of Photography #7, published in 2026 by Journal Photobooks.

www.joi.is

Līga Spunde (LV, b. 1990) is a visual artist working across digital print, video and installation. A graduate of the Art Academy of Latvia, her practice fuses digital aesthetics with speculative fiction to explore contemporary emotional states through visual culture and symbolic codes. She has exhibited internationally, including at MMCA Changdong, Seoul; MO Museum, Vilnius; and Survival Kit 15, Riga. Her works, meanwhile, are held in major public and private collections.

Here, Kogo Gallery brings together works from a number of Spunde’s past projects. Among them, the wall sculpture Still Life with Computer Mouse – first produced for Riga Photography Biennale – serves as a visual allegory of the relentless pace of contemporary life and its impact on mental health. Elsewhere, sculptures from The Pin series address questions of present-day instability, while the digital drawing User I reframes the ‘digital native’ as a contemporary explorer.

Artist is presented by Kogo Gallery

MAREUNROL’S (LV, b. 1982) is a Riga-based interdisciplinary artist duo – comprising Mārīte Mastiņa-Pēterkopa and Rolands Pēterkops – working across fields of visual art, fashion, installation, sound, and performance. Their practice blends magical realism, narrative, and critical reflection, expanding fashion beyond its functional role. The duo has exhibited internationally, representing Latvia at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026.

In Invisible Sounds, Imaginary Scenes, MAREUNROL’S reflects on identity, media influence, and how an overload of fragmented information shapes contemporary consciousness. The recurring motif of the bird suggests both fragility and hope, asking whether we still have space for silence, reflection, and truth.

Artist is presented by ISSP Gallery

Kincső Bede (HU/RO, b. 1995) is a Romanian visual artist of Hungarian heritage who grew up in a small town in Transylvania. She is deeply interested in the communist past of her homeland, the legacy of Nicolae Ceaușescu’s regime, the pervasive control exercised by the secret police (Securitate), and how this history is transmitted across generations. Bede earned her MA in Photography from the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design Budapest (MOME) and has received numerous grants and awards through prestigious talent-development programs in recent years.

Three Colours I Know in This World is an intimate black-and-white photographic series exploring inherited identity, femininity, and cultural memory. Through staged scenes and symbolic gestures, Bede reflects on the emotional ties between generations, revealing how personal history and tradition shape self-perception within a changing contemporary landscape.

The Art of Pista draws primarily on the artist’s personal experiences—particularly the complex and conflict-ridden relationship between her grandparents—while opening up broader reflections on the possibilities, limitations, and responsibilities of photography.

Artist is presented by TOBE Gallery

Janina Sabaliauskaitė (LT/UK, b. 1991) is a photographer and independent curator living and working between England and Lithuania. Her work is characterised by an intimate, feminist gaze, exploring the body, queer relationships, identity, sexuality, and disability. Sabaliauskaitė’s works have been exhibited at institutions such as The Estonian Art Museum (Kumu), Tallinn; Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (MIMA), Middlesbrough; Radvila Palace Art Museum, Vilnius; Fondation Fiminco, Romainville; ParisPhoto, Paris; the Latvian National Museum of Art, Riga; and the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art, Sunderland. 

For Foto Tallinn 2026, Sabaliauskaitė displays a series of works that were first exhibited at her solo show Trust, held at Drifts in 2023. The artist sees her works as more than mere images: instead, they form a kind of being – “a bodily coexistence of a human and the earth.” As described by Laima Kreivytė, the curator of the Trust exhibition, “the way that Sabaliauskaitė looks at the earth and rocks is not sculptural, but rather mythological, emphasising a changed attitude in the Anthropocene era. Where previously the earth meant resources, in her photographs the Earth is a deity, a planet…”

Artist is presented by Drifts Gallery

Krista Mölder (EE, b. 1972) is an Estonian artist living and working in Tallinn. She works mainly with analogue photography, whilst her projects address issues of visual representation. Often, Mölder’s work revolves around dualities and the complex interplay of different forces, capturing the intricate imbalance of situations and settings that may at first appear stable. Intrigued by the visual lure of these situations, Mölder aims to depict their potential – and the inadvertent motion or flux that characterises them.

For Mölder, photography disrupts that which is temporary or fleeting by fixing moments – “a grimace before a smile, a suspended wave, a runner floating in mid-air.” Striving to capture the in-between, her work at Foto Tallinn questions stasis, revealing the tension between motion and stillness, or the visible and the hidden.

Artist is presented by Temnikova & Kasela Gallery

Johanna Adojaan (EE, b. 1996) is inspired by abstract and magical thinking, intimate aspects of the human experience, and the biological and social drivers of human behavior. She holds both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Fine Art Photography from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Belgium. Adojaan works as a photographer, a graphic designer, an illustrator, a second-hand treasure dealer, and a ceramic artist. 

At Foto Tallinn, Adojaan’s exhibit consists of 16 black and white photographs taken in Jingdezhen, China, which have been transferred onto translucent porcelain plates. The photographs and their ‘carriers’ were born in the same environment – ​​the world’s porcelain capital, which has shaped ceramic production, customs, and culture for centuries. The artist’s tender images, coupled with the fragility of porcelain, invite the viewer to consider and observe a range of work processes, rhythms, subtle shifts, as well as the gradual wear and tear of materials.

Artist is presented by FOKU Gallery

Maria Kapajeva (EE/UK, b. 1976; she/ they) is an artist working between the UK and Estonia. She is a recipient of both a three-year artist salary awarded by the Estonian Artists’ Association in collaboration with the Estonian Ministry of Culture, and the 2025 Annual Award for Visual and Applied Arts. Exhibited internationally, Kapajeva’s works are held in the collections of Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and Tartu Art Museum. Her multidisciplinary practice explores identity and gender, often bringing peripheral stories to the fore.

The works Kapajeva presents at Foto Tallinn belong to My Parts, Not: a larger project on the visibility of queer bodies and women’s medical experiences. Before undergoing a preventative double mastectomy, Kapajeva created numerous images, prints and casts of her breasts as a means to preserve her memory of what once was. Later, these images were abstracted into new territory – separate from the body, fragmented, as if cut into pieces with a paper shredder. Having grown up as a queer woman who “dreamt of being breastless,” the project allows Kapajeva to reflect on her inner conflict – paradoxically, her dream was fulfilled through cancer prevention surgery.

Following preventive surgery, the artist began working with clay to create hanging, bell-shaped sculptures cast from her own breasts before surgery (Transformation of Silence, 2025–…). The tactile quality of the clay, together with the possibility for the bells to ring, allows the sculptures to break the silence around experiences of breast cancer and preventive treatment.

The installation will expand through casts made from other women’s bodies. The artist is inviting women to participate, including those who have experienced or are undergoing breast cancer treatment, those who have undergone preventive surgery, and those whose close female relatives have experienced breast cancer and who would like to take part in the work. Each cast will become a bell, contributing to an evolving installation made from the bodies and experiences of different women. If you would like to contribute to the work, please contact the artist directly.

www.mariakapajeva.com