Iiu Susiraja, Jimmy López and Noora Dadu are Uniarts Helsinki’s Alumni of the Year 2025
The Alumni of the Year are artists and role models who have highlighted the unique value and role of art and artist education through their work after their graduation from Uniarts Helsinki.
Each year, Uniarts Helsinki selects three artists as Alumni of the Year, one from each academy. According to Rector of Uniarts Helsinki Kaarlo Hildén, the goal is to make arts education more prominent and have a discussion on the impact that Uniarts Helsinki and its alumni have on society.
“I’m proud of the fact that Iiu Susiraja, Jimmy López and Noora Dadu are graduates of Uniarts Helsinki and now our most recent Alumni of the Year. Without a doubt, they deserve to be described as bold role models. They offer their fearless and insightful takes on the time that we’re living in, and their works resonate with people regardless of location or worldview,” Hildén says.
Alumni of the Year 2025
The Alum of the Year from the Academy of Fine Arts is photographer and artist Iiu Susiraja. Susiraja is known especially for her bold and provocative works that deal with themes of body, sexuality and identity. Susiraja graduated from Uniarts Helsinki’s Academy of Fine Arts in 2018. Her art is often surrealist and humorous but profound, too, and it challenges beauty norms and gender roles. Susiraja’s works have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions, such as at MoMA PS1 in New York City, SKMU Museum in Norway, Kiasma and EMMA Museum in Finland, Marburger Kunstverein in Germany and François Ghebaly Gallery in Los Angeles. Susiraja is one of Finland’s most prominent visual artists internationally.
The Sibelius Academy’s Alum of the Year is Jimmy López from Peru. López is one of the most interesting composers of his generation. He got started without formal classical music training but became interested in Bach’s music at the age of 12 and studied composition on his own. López graduated from the Sibelius Academy with a Master of Music degree in 2007. That same year, he also made his international breakthrough. His works have been performed by such orchestras as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw, Orchestre de Paris and Philadelphia Orchestra.
The Theatre Academy’s Alum of the Year is actor, playwright and director Noora Dadu. She is a Finnish-Palestinian artist who graduated as an actor from the Theatre Academy in 2010. Dadu works in several different professional roles in the field of performing arts and is an active influencer in society. In and through her works, she challenges discriminatory structures and reminds people that art is always political. Dadu won the Young Poet of the Year award in 2006 and the Young Actor of the Year award in 2015.