Images of Everyday Life, Order, and Emotions

Linda Varoma’s exhibition Syömään! (Let’s Eat!) delves into the world of mealtime in families with children. The works depict the repetition of everyday life: a family gathering around the dinner table, details of the kitchen, and occasional surprising emotional outbursts. The images make the intimacy of the home space tangible—plates, table corners, small hands—but also reflect the range and meaning of emotions that arise within repetition and familiarity. The exhibition is a visually balanced whole, where mess and order, the everyday and the festive, routine and surprise exist side by side.

Varoma aims to explore the role of food and eating within the family context. A growing interest in the repetition of daily life, its rituals, and their meaning—sparked by becoming a parent—serves as the foundation for her work. Since 2018, the artist has systematically documented her own family and home—especially the kitchen and mealtimes—to understand what these everyday situations reveal about family, togetherness, and life itself.

The main themes of the exhibition are the rhythm of everyday life, the social dimension of eating, and the recurring patterns of family life. It raises questions about how ordinary routines build family connection, how mealtimes serve as a space for emotional expression, and how cultural norms are reflected in everyday practices. The works subtly comment on cultural assumptions about family and parenthood—on what a “good everyday life” is supposed to look like. They highlight how each family has its own ways of doing things—practices that may seem strange to outsiders, but hold deep internal meaning, even a sense of the sacred.

The newest works in the exhibition draw on the tradition of still life painting, expressed through the visual language of contemporary art. The pieces are rich in symbolism and warm humour. Let’s Eat! invites viewers to look more closely at the ordinary—to see mealtime not merely as nourishment, but as the very core of being a family.

Linda Varoma (b. 1985) is a photographic artist and photojournalist based in Loviisa, Finland. Her artistic work often explores themes related to home, family, and everyday life, and she has an enduring interest in the intersections between parenthood and artistic identity. Varoma holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Glasgow School of Art and is currently studying in the Public Art program at LAB University of Applied Sciences in Lappeenranta.

The Syömään! exhibition has been supported by Konstsamfundet.

Linda Varoma
Syömään!
31 May–9 August 2025
Hippolyte Korjaamo
(Töölönkatu 51 A-B, 00250 Helsinki)
Open according to the opening hours of Korjaamo

image: Linda Varoma, Parisuhde, 2025