Maria Izabella Lehtsaar’s gentle and radical protection rituals

On Wednesday, 11 February at 6:00 PM, Maria Izabella Lehtsaar will open the Hares Caress Your Hair exhibition at the Hobusepea Gallery. The exhibition will remain open until 8 March 2026.

One Hare caresses my head. 
It plays gently with my curls.
Its paw lands softly on my cheek.
I breathe a sigh of relief.
I can't close my eyes; everything can change so quickly.
Another hare tends and licks my crimson scars.

Maria Izabella Lehtsaar’s artistic practice explores the experiences of queer and marginalised people through everyday life and fantasy. Hares Caress Your Hair observes the process of bodies recovering from trauma and violence and how minorities are forced to create safety for themselves in their own bodies, homes and fragile communities at a time when shared spaces are increasingly disappearing or being appropriated.

Lehtsaar delves into lesbian representation through the working class and non-binary gaze, elevating visual symbols and semiotics to bring visibility to the local culture, which is over-saturated with a binary and heteronormative narrative of love and belonging. Their work offers a delicate, radical emphasis to inner security and collective and personal patron saints at a time when there is a rise in right-wing extremism in society, when we are experiencing the long-term consequences of chronic illnesses, epidemics, wars and other traumas.

Hares Caress Your Hair is a rite that recognises security as something we must consciously maintain and work on. The space of the Hobusepea Gallery in the Old Town frames the visual language of the exhibition: altars, armours and morning stars are reminiscent of medieval power structures, but are transformed into tools through satin surfaces, softness and trans-colours. Familiar objects become vulnerable, reflecting the resilience of the queer resistance. Mixed media textile installations, collages, poetry and graphics function as honest gestures toward the pluralism and diversity of marginalised bodies, amplified symbols that protect and shield minorities from threatening forces. 

Maria Izabella Lehtsaar (b. 1998) is a non-binary artist based in Tallinn who works primarily with under-represented queer experience and narrative, often playing with the boundaries between reality and fantasy. Their work often narrates spaces and hidden symbols and encoded meanings in queer and lesbian material culture.
Maria Izabella’s work catches the eye through softness, which loudly touches on subjects of gender performativity and construction that create a binary and lonely world.
In their work they blend pop culture aesthetics and sensitive monochrome graphics, combining them in practice with textiles, drawing and poetry. Their use of various media visually bends the familiarity with layered meanings.

The artist would like to thank: Nadya Tjuška, Anita Kodanik, Sarah Nõmm, Edvard Vellevoog, Laura-Marleene Jefimov, EKA graafikaosakond, OMAtsirkus, Gabriela Różańska, Kirke Mari Päll (pr0hvet), Emma Leelo Dillon (placentat_tat), Susanna Mett and Saara Lotta Linno.
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.
Exhibitions in the Hobusepea Gallery are supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia, the Estonian Ministry of Culture and Liviko AS.
The gallery is managed by the Estonian Artists’ Association.