Let’s talk about body, food, identity and art | Tiia-Riikka Hietanen

Tiia-Riikka Hietanen is a Finnish visual artist and literature teacher whose work explores the intersection of body, food, and gender. Having grown up under the pressures of a strict, often harmful diet culture aimed especially at women, she now centres her art on her own fat body, using painting, photography, and printmaking to confront and question societal expectations. Food, for her, is both joyful and fraught never neutral and this complexity shapes her artistic language. By depicting her body, she aims not to create a utopia but to reclaim bodily neutrality and resist the constant external pressure to change. Art has become a deeply personal and political tool, helping her process lifelong struggles while also speaking to broader experiences of fatphobia and gendered judgement.

Tiia-Riikka sees today’s rise of right-wing politics, conservatism, and renewed hostility toward LGBTQ+ and minority rights as major challenges for feminism. Looking ahead, she hopes for stronger intersectional solidarity and a collective commitment to defending marginalized communities. Her inspirations include Judy Chicago, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Sylvia Plath.

Three women that inspire Tiia-Riikka Hietanen

• Judy Chicago
• Georgia O’Keeffe
• Sylvia Plath

This is part of WP1 | T.1.2. PRODUCTION OF ORIGINAL MULTIMEDIA CONTENTS: RESEARCH, STUDIES, ARCHIVAL MATERIALS, TESTIMONIES OF WITNESSES