BIO
Anu Lehto is a Helsinki-based visual artist working with cyanotype, moving image, sound, text-based art and installation.
Lehto is interested in how a place shapes an artwork’s meaning, atmosphere and narrative. Rather than treating the environment as a neutral setting, she explores how it can become an active part of the work itself. Her artistic approach combines visual storytelling with spatial and sensory experiences, often moving between personal observation and shared encounters.
With a background in visual design and art direction, Lehto brings an interdisciplinary perspective to her artistic practice. She holds an MA in Contemporary Contexts of Arts from Turku Arts Academy (2024) and an MA in New Media from Aalto University (2014), and is currently completing the Public Art Specialist programme at the University of the Arts Helsinki (2026).
”At the heart
of my practice
is empathy.”
ARTIST STATEMENT
Kuva: Emma Suominen
At the heart of my practice is empathy: a willingness to look beyond my own perspective and a desire to find ways of belonging more deeply to one another and to the world around us.
My work explores the human place within a multispecies, interdependent world. I am interested in how art can make us more attentive to our surroundings and more aware of the presence of other forms of life.
I explore the layered relationship between physical spaces and our inner worlds — how places shape our experiences, memories and emotions, and how these, in turn, shape our relationship with places. I am interested in the attachments we form to places, the personal meanings they hold, and how art can make these experiences visible and shared.
MEMBERSHIPS & PROFESSIONAL PROFILES
MUU ry
Artist’s Register
Ornamo
Grafia
Kuvasto
GET IN TOUCH
For enquiries, collaborations and project proposals, please get in touch.