Maria Kapajeva (EE/UK, b. 1976; she/ they) is an artist working between the UK and Estonia. She is a recipient of both a three-year artist salary awarded by the Estonian Artists’ Association in collaboration with the Estonian Ministry of Culture, and the 2025 Annual Award for Visual and Applied Arts. Exhibited internationally, Kapajeva’s works are held in the collections of Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art and Tartu Art Museum. Her multidisciplinary practice explores identity and gender, often bringing peripheral stories to the fore.
The works Kapajeva presents at Foto Tallinn belong to My Parts, Not: a larger project on the visibility of queer bodies and women’s medical experiences. Before undergoing a preventative double mastectomy, Kapajeva created numerous images, prints and casts of her breasts as a means to preserve her memory of what once was. Later, these images were abstracted into new territory – separate from the body, fragmented, as if cut into pieces with a paper shredder. Having grown up as a queer woman who “dreamt of being breastless,” the project allows Kapajeva to reflect on her inner conflict – paradoxically, her dream was fulfilled through cancer prevention surgery.
Following preventive surgery, the artist began working with clay to create hanging, bell-shaped sculptures cast from her own breasts before surgery (Transformation of Silence, 2025–…). The tactile quality of the clay, together with the possibility for the bells to ring, allows the sculptures to break the silence around experiences of breast cancer and preventive treatment.
The installation will expand through casts made from other women’s bodies. The artist is inviting women to participate, including those who have experienced or are undergoing breast cancer treatment, those who have undergone preventive surgery, and those whose close female relatives have experienced breast cancer and who would like to take part in the work. Each cast will become a bell, contributing to an evolving installation made from the bodies and experiences of different women. If you would like to contribute to the work, please contact the artist directly.
