Nina Kokkinen

Nina Kokkinen is an art historian and researcher whose work explores the connections between art, esotericism, spirituality and cultural history. Through research, exhibitions and writing, she brings overlooked artists and ideas into wider public and scholarly discussions, with particular attention to women artists in Finland and the Nordic region.

Since 2022, Kokkinen has collaborated with Finland’s National Gallery and Ateneum Art Museum on Northern Women, Art and Esotericism, a research and exhibition project examining women’s contributions to art and esoteric movements from the late nineteenth century onward, including in Sámi territories. Her other projects include research and an exhibition on artist Aleksandra Ionowa, developed with the Gallen-Kallela Museum and the Ionowa Foundation, and work on representations of Eastern spirituality in Western art.

Kokkinen also writes about art history and esotericism, sharing research through publications and her blog. From 2021 to 2024, she co-edited Tahiti, a Finnish peer-reviewed, open-access art history journal, and contributed to the FiKon project re-examining Finnish art history through interdisciplinary research.