Introducing Communications Intern Nea Keskitalo

This year, Nea Keskitalo is Communications Intern for IHME Helsinki Commission 2025, The Forest, created by Ukrainian artist Zhanna Kadyrova (b. 1981). Nea is currently studying Corporate Communication and has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a minor in Social Sciences. She is extending her expertise on a Master’s programme in Corporate Communication, while supplementing her studies with courses in Environmental Science at the University of Jyväskylä. Thanks to her diverse academic background, she approaches communication not only as a cultural and societal phenomenon, but also as a strategic and influential practice connecting organizations and stakeholders.

Nea has gained experience in communications particularly through volunteer work in nature-conservation organizations, where she is still actively involved. Photography has also been a means of expression for her since childhood. She is especially interested in ecological and societal communication – and in how art can serve as a bridge between the two. She believes that art should not merely depict reality, but also challenge it and generate new perspectives, thereby sparking dialogue when words may fall short.

Interest in influencing through art

The connection between art and advocacy became especially tangible for Nea during her exchange studies in Sicily, where she took a course called Theater for Social Change. The course explored participatory artforms that highlight community and individual experiences and injustices, and offered pathways for change.

That experience showed me how art can be a tool for sharing, understanding, and building hope. IHME Helsinki feels like a natural continuation of that – a space where communications meets critical, timely art.

As an intern, Nea is responsible for IHME Helsinki’s social media content and monitoring, takes part in event production, and helps develop accessible communications alongside the Communications Planner.

This internship at IHME Helsinki is a dream opportunity for me. I’m particularly interested in how human activities – like dams and wars – shape nature and, on the other hand, how nature is capable of recovery. Kadyrova’s The Forest is a fascinating and timely work, and it’s inspiring to be involved in communicating it. It’s powerful that the piece is being realized at Vanhankaupunginkoski dam in Helsinki – a place where the tensions between nature and human action are tangibly present.

Zhanna Kadyrova’s IHME Helsinki Commission 2025 will open to the public on Ukrainian Independence Day, Sunday, 24 August 2025. The exhibition is open for six weeks until 2 October 2025. The Forest offers an opportunity to learn about Russian aggression in Zaporizhzhia and to reflect on the consequences for the environment of human actions taken in the name of progress.