Sirpa Alalääkkölä
b. 1965
1 Artwork
Born in Lapland, Finland, Sirpa Alalääkkölä graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Helsinki where she was influenced by expressionist painters such as Picasso and Modigliani. She was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the Tisch School of Arts, New York, and held several well received exhibitions in Finland.
Alalääkkölä travelled extensively, painting in the Pacific Islands, India and Australia before settling in New Zealand in 1993, having ‘fell in love with the country’. In 1997 she married Paul Palmer, a photographer for the Marlborough Express.
In 2017 the couple separated leading to an artwork/copyright ownership dispute that ultimately led to the Supreme Court. In 2025 the court ruled the artist retained sole legal ownership, but the copyright must be shared with her ex-husband.
See also:
- Nelson's murals (The Prow)
- Artist heartbroken by copyright battle warns others after Supreme Court landmark ruling | RNZ News (Radio New Zealand 23 March 2025)
- Art & Adventure - Artist's Facebook page
Sirpa Alalääkkölä, ‘Modigliani’s Trout’ (1995), YHA, Whakatū Nelson
Image: Bronwyn Holloway-Smith, Public Art Heritage Aotearoa New Zealand, Feb 2025
- Associated Artworks
