Illustrated Stories on Display: How Exhibitions Speak

This seminar series explores exhibitions as rhetorical arenas where images and illustrations tell stories. Scholars and curators show how visual narratives persuade, move, and invite audiences into dialogue.

Step into the world of contemporary picture book art!

The exhibitions Klein aber Groß, Nordic Children's Literature and Kollektivet: Picture Book Illustration from Finland explore the world of the picture book by presenting the work of a collective of illustrators.

'Klein aber Groß' (Small but Great) was exhibited at the Felleshus in Berlin from 18 July to 5 October 2025. It showcased contemporary and legendary Nordic illustrators, including Anna Jacobina Jacobsen (Denmark), Jakob Martin Strid (Denmark), Linda Bondestam (Finland), Tove Jansson (Finland), Bárður Oskarsson (Faroe Islands), , Maria Bach Kreutzmann (Greenland), Áslaug Jónsdóttir (Iceland), Rán Flygenring (Iceland), Gry Moursund (Norway), Kjell Aukrust (Norway), Emma Adbåge (Sweden), Stina Wirsén (Sweden) and Amanda Chanfreau (Åland Islands).

The Finnish picture book illustrators Linda Bondestam, Jenni Erkintalo, Lena Frölander-Ulf, Edith Hammar, Maija Hurme, Erika Kallasmaa, Jenny Lucander, Laura Merz, Sanna Pelliccioni and Maria Sann are highlighted in the exhibition Kollektivet, which is touring museums in Finland and Sweden.


Johanna Stenback, the curator and executive producer of both exhibitions, will give you a backstage tour and talk about how the group exhibition was created, as well as her work with picture book art and her approach to respecting children’s culture.

Johanna works as an exhibition, event and video producer at Moomin Characters. Working with Tove Jansson’s artistry and heritage is her daily work. In 2014, she produced BY, an exhibition of nine Finnish picture book illustrators, which was presented in the Finnish pavilion when Finland was the guest country at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The exhibition toured Germany, Finland, and Sweden. She has also produced the Nordic Council Prize gala twice. Moreover, she was the originator of the Tove Jansson festival concept, which was inaugurated at the Fotografiska museum in Stockholm in 2020 and continues to be a touring concept.