Kadi Estland

Estonian artist (born 1973)
Eesti Kunstimuuseum

trained at Estonian Academy of Arts

Kadi Estland (1973) is a textile artist by education and her feminist work relies on the method of critical deconstruction. One of the focal points of Estland's work is the relationship between the individual and the system – she tells stories about vulnerable people in the contemporary world. By combining expensive and cheap materials or vernacular with high culture quotes, Estland creates emotional works that highlight the processes of reproduction of the patriarchy. Since the beginning of the 2000s Kadi Estland’s (official name Kadi Soosalu) feminist work has shaped contemporary Estonian art and during that period she worked both individually and as part of collectives such as Valie Export Society, The Elfriede Jelinek School of English Language and Feminismiehitaja. These collectives focused on articulating women's rights and possibilities in Estonia at the end of the 1990s and in the beginning of the 2000s. Estland is also the founder and manager of the artist-run-space Nancy Nakamura Ideederiiul (Tallinn, 2013–2015), and free clothing store and community centre Suburbia Kopopola (with Minna Hint, Tallinn, 2015). One of Estland's earliest appearances was together with Ele Praks and Helen Lehismets at the exhibition “Töötud armastajad” (Unemployed Lovers, 1999) at the Tallinn Art Hall Gallery. The exhibited set of embroidered pieces titled “Kuidas elatakse Ameerikas?” (How do they live in America?) evoked autobiographical narratives, where the artist's notes and comments played an important role, alluding to the possibility of other kinds of experiences. Through the personal nature of Estland's embroidery the work also acquired a political meaning and her conscious decision to use craft techniques was guided by an ideological principle. In 1999 Estland founded the collective Valie Export Society together with Killu Sukmit and Mari Laanemets, borrowing its name from the Australian feminist artist Valie Export. With performances in public spaces the artists recreated Valie Export's artistic interventions, adapting them to the cultural context of the newly independent Estonia. For example, during the intervention “Homomeeter II” (a remake of Valie Export's “Homo Meter II”, 1976) the artists walked the streets of Tallinn, each with a loaf of bread attached to their stomach, offering slices of bread to passers-by. In “From the Portfolio of Doggishness” (2000) the members of the group walked around Tallinn with the art critic Hanno Soans tied to a leash (a reference to Valie Export's work “Aus der Mappe der Hundigkeit”, 1968).

Browse 5 works in the catalogue →

Also trained at Estonian Academy of Arts: Eduard Wiiralt · Evald Okas · Andrus Johani · Johann Naha · Jüri Arrak

Contemporaries in Eesti Kunstimuuseum: Marko Mäetamm · Iwona Juskowiak-Abrams · Kaspars Teodors Brambergs · Rebecca Keller · Puhas Rõõm

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Data from MuIS and the EKM Digital Collection. Full catalogue