Bita Razavi, Verneri Pohjola and Isto Turpeinen named Uniarts Helsinki Alumni of the Year 2026
The Alumni of the Year are artists and role models who have graduated from Uniarts Helsinki and whose work has strengthened the unique value and significance of art and arts education. Each of the three Alumni of the Year represents one of Uniarts Helsinki’s three academies.
Bita Razavi is a visual artist of Iranian background who works in Helsinki and Mahu, Estonia. Her work offers perceptive explorations of the relationship between individuals and social systems, political structures, and interpretations of history. Razavi’s artistic practice is characterised by her ability to combine conceptual precision with lived experience and to address societal questions from multiple perspectives. Her recent works have examined university tuition fees in relation to the culture of donating underpinning universities committed to the freedom of research and artistic practice. She has also explored the complex histories of European colonialism, censorship, and the reinterpretation of history.
Razavi graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 2013 and has exhibited her work widely in international contexts. In 2022, she represented Estonia at the 59th Venice Biennale together with Kristina Norman. Her long-standing artistic practice has received significant recognition: in 2017, she was awarded the Oskar Öflund Foundation’s main prize, and in 2025, she received the Fine Arts Academy of Finland Prize. Razavi’s work is distinguished by her insightful observation of people’s actions, aspirations and words, as well as the emotions, tensions and resolutions they generate.
Verneri Pohjola is a trumpeter and composer who has forged a distinctive and internationally recognised career as a leading figure in Finnish jazz. His artistry combines a powerful improvisational expression, composition, and an open-minded approach to moving between different musical territories. Pohjola’s career demonstrates how the long-term development of an individual artistic voice can open up new possibilities both within jazz and at its intersections with other genres of music.
The exceptional breadth of Pohjola’s musicianship is exemplified by HUSH, a trumpet concerto composed for him by Uniarts Helsinki Honorary Doctor Kaija Saariaho. Pohjola premiered the concerto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Susanna Mälkki in 2023 and has since performed it as a soloist with major international orchestras. Pohjola graduated from the Sibelius Academy with a Master of Music degree in 2012, and his contribution to Finnish jazz was recognised with the Finnish Jazz Federation’s Yrjö Award in 2017. His career is defined by an uncompromising pursuit of his own distinct artistic expression, a profound connection to the jazz tradition, and a desire to expand the possibilities of the trumpet and improvisation into new territories.
Isto Turpeinen is a dancer, educator and Doctor of Arts (Dance) whose long career brings together artistic practice, research, arts education and societal engagement. Particularly significant has been his work to develop dance education for boys and men and to promote accessibility and equality in arts education. Both as a practising educator and a researcher, Turpeinen has challenged established structures in dance education and sought ways to make participation in dance possible for an ever wider range of people, while also contributing to the development of public arts services.
Turpeinen completed his doctorate at the Theatre Academy of Uniarts Helsinki in 2015 with his dissertation “Raakalautaa ja rakkautta – kolme sommitelmaa oman elämän tanssista”, centred on the raakalauta method he developed through his extensive pedagogical practice. He has continued his work on accessibility and equality through initiatives such as Uniarts Helsinki’s ArtsEqual research project and through his expert work on cultural wellbeing at the Arts Promotion Centre Finland. His sustained contribution to dance education for children and young people was recognised as early as 2002 with the State Award for Children’s Culture. Turpeinen’s career demonstrates how artistic and pedagogical expertise can develop into research and further into work that influences the very structures of society.
We’ll be sharing our Alumni’s thoughts over the upcoming weeks, stay tuned!