About Maija Nochevnaya

Maija Nochevnaya was born in the northern town Norilsk , Soviet Union, in 1982.  She graduated from the university as an architect and mining engineer. Maija immigrated to Finland in 2006, where she studied horticulture. Her creative journey began in Finland. While experimenting with artistic materials and trends, she found her own recognizable style. Maija has developed unique techniques that she uses to create stunning works. 

“While exploring different materials and themes, I found myself drawn to landscapes and gradually developed my own recognizable style. Viewers often tell me that my work feels calming, as if it invites them to look deeper. I love this effect — I too enter a meditative state while creating.

At some point, while drawing willows, I remembered a sensory relaxation technique: a person lies with closed eyes while grains or beads are slowly poured from one bowl to another above their head. The brain tries to follow the sound but can’t process it fully, so it lets go — and relaxation begins.

Willow leaves reminded me of falling grains. I realized that many of my works act in a similar way. The eye tries to follow the rhythm of details — leaves, dots, textures — but there’s no clear focal point, no obvious structure. And that abundance of organic forms leads the mind to quiet down.

Instead of reading the image, you start to feel it. My landscapes become gentle visual meditations — soft, immersive spaces where the mind can rest”

«Marfa’s Dogs were born in silence, in a foreign land, in exile — at a time when I was alone with myself yet distant from society.

I pressed my back onto the paper as proof of my existence, and from this imprint emerged fragile beings — tender, awkward, attentive, and deeply moving.

Through the image of the animal I uncover emotions that people often conceal.

These are portraits of the inner child, or of the creature that lives within each of us when we grow weary of pretending.

Their bright, rainbow-like colors are in contrast with quiet sadness, vulnerability, and silence, creating a powerful emotional resonance.

Their gaze is turned inward — not to the camera, not outward — as if they already know something about the viewer.

There is a touch of theatre, a hint of clownery — and behind it, a delicate, disarming vulnerability»