Laura Põld (b. 1984) is an Estonian interdisciplinary artist who combines sculpture with traditional craft techniques such as ceramics and rug-making.
Drawing on mythology, folktale and environmental history, Põld foregrounds interspecies entanglements and themes centred on culture and community. Põld’s site-sensitive art interacts with its spatial context, often exploring practices of nurturing, shelter and survival in our unstable contemporary reality.
Photo: Albert Kerstna
Laura Põld: Külmking. Tassel of the Dead, Root of the Living, 2025. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, HAM Helsinki Art Museum. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Sonja Hyytiäinen
Külmking. Tassel of the Dead, Root of the Living, 2025
Artwork location: HAM Helsinki Art Museum
The installation in HAM’s north gallery consists of ceramic sculptures and four wool pile tapestries handmade by the artist and her associates from woollen yarns dyed with Estonian plants. ‘Külmking’ is a mythological figure believed to be the protector of forests and peatlands in Estonian folklore. The wool pile tapestries on the wall depict a faceless figure in cowboy boots intertwined with the sinuous branches of a rose bush and a lithe female figure. The shapes of the ceramic sculptures reiterate the thorny forms of the tapestries. The sculptures laid out on the hand-tufted tapestry are suggestive of rugged, mossy terrain and the twisting roots of northern woodlands.
Intersecting softness with hardness, Põld’s installation evokes life’s unpredictability and reminds us of our responsibility to protect those who are most vulnerable.
Laura Põld: Külmking. Resting Within Puddles and Branches, 2025, detail. Helsinki Biennial 8.6.–21.9.2025, Vallisaari Island. Photo: HAM / Helsinki Biennial / Maija Toivanen
Külmking. Resting Within Puddles and Branches, 2025
Artwork location: Vallisaari Island
In Vallisaari, Põld has created large-scale ceramic tree trunks, whose branches shelter mushroom-like forms, which serve as water receptacles for local birds to drink and bathe.