Our first guest for 2026 is comic book artist Paula Andrade, visiting us from Argentina and using the Villa as a place to work on a new book, in collaboration with the Louvre Museum and Louvre Lens.
Paula has visited Villa Eläintarha twice before in the past, and made a book, Rakas, about her time in Finland, which includes a wonderful chapter on the Villa and its atmosphere.
See the Villa as pictured in Rakas, and below, from the book:
“𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘱𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘳. 𝘖𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭-𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥.
𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵 𝘖𝘴𝘬𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘖𝘭𝘨𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦. 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥. 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘈 𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘰.”
Learn more about Paula’s work at her website www.pauandrade.com
Photo Joshua Cockroft