Malle Leis memorial and Bita Razavi
For the first time, on 9 July 2020, Malle Leis’s (1940-2017) 80th birthday, Malle Leis’s hiers presented a prize named after her, to recognise female artists dedicated to their work. The first Malle Leis award went to Katrin Piile, the prize was a serigraph made in a unique silk-screen printing technique developed by the artist together with her husband Villu Jõgeva, as well as a small monetary prize, which a smaller amount of money received from Malle Leis’s copyrights.
Although the award's statute states that it would not be presented more often than once every five years, we see that this is the second time since the award was established that we are publicly recognising a female creator who has decided to stand up against injustice. In the spring of 2021, when the so-called „tulip scandal“ broke out in connection with the obvious Malle Leis forgery put up for public auction by the Haus Gallery, hobby artist and craftsman Monika Liiv came to the fore. She admitted that she did paint the given tulip watercolor but did not add Malle Leis' signature, which was a poor imitation. recognition for her courage and sense of justice, we presented Monika Liiv with a real Malle Leis tulip picture - this time, however, in the serigraphy technique.
Bita Razavi is a contemporary artist of Iranian origin who has connected her life and work with Estonia and Finland. This year she represented Estonia at the Venice Biennale. Unfortunately, during the preparation of the exhibition, Bita Razavi experienced workplace harassment, discrimination and even self-initiated censorship from the curator and other members of the exhibition team. However, Bita stood up to all of this, did not try to hide the teasing and other negative experiences she had experienced, but rather spoke about them publicly already at the opening of the Estonian pavilion in Venice. The result: the exhibition of an uncensored version of her installation was exhibited in many parts of the world provoking international attention to this unfortunate incident. Recently, a comprehensive article about Bita and the censorship she suffered in Venice was published in the Dutch publication Groene Amsterdammer. After all, it was the Dutch pavilion that had been put at the disposal of the Estonian state at the Venice Biennale at the time.
At first glance, Malle Leis was not an artist who dealt with social issues. And yet, as a personality, she had a strong sense of social justice and a great aversion to, as Malle Leis and Villu Jõgeva called it, the “power of officialdom”. The latter had to be experienced by As an uncompromising artist was experienced byBita Razavi in a particularly vivid way, and yet she dared to speak publicly about the mental violence she experienced as well as the harassment and even censorship. Thus, this unfortunate incident gained wider international attention. In recognition of Bita Razavi's uncompromising artistry and civic courage, we present her with a serigraph by Malle Leis titled Orchids – after all, Razavi participated in a project at the Venice Biennale called Orchidelirium. An Appetite for Abundance.
Sandra Jõgeva,
Henrik Jõgeva
In Tallinn, 8 November 2022