Ingrid Ung is a Finnish visual artist whose life and work move fluidly across borders, disciplines, and identities. Born in Malmö in 1973 and raised between cultures, with a Finnish mother and a Slovenian father, Ingrid has built an artistic practice that is as multifaceted as her personal journey. Trained at Fria Konstskolan and later at Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, she has worked with painting, drawing, video, sound, installation, and performance, gaining particular recognition for her video and performance art while never abandoning her roots as a painter. Her life has been shaped by constant movement and curiosity, having lived and worked in cities such as Stockholm, Berlin, Paris, Estonia, and even India. Ingrid approaches these geographical and emotional shifts not as obstacles, but as adventures that have continuously expanded her artistic vocabulary. This openness to experience is also reflected in her willingness to move between traditional and contemporary forms, allowing drawing and painting to coexist naturally with video and performance.
Her background as a painter remains visible even in her moving-image works, lending them a strong visual sensitivity. At the same time, she values the intimacy and romance of manual, craft-based practices, especially as she returns more intensively to drawing and painting. For Ingrid, artistic freedom lies precisely in refusing to limit herself to a single medium or definition. Based between Helsinki, Turku, Berlin, and Leipzig, Ingrid’s career reflects a life shaped by movement, curiosity, and openness to change. Her work often explores themes of identity and gender, drawing directly from lived experience, including her transition, which began in the early 2000s and became part of a powerful body of artistic reflection. Beyond labels and categories, Ingrid’s art is driven by a desire to inspire, to give hope, and to remain deeply authentic, a quality that resonates not only in her visual language but also in her thoughtful, warm, and reflective approach to life itself.
