A Shade Colder Spring 2026 issue

Becoming, the spring 2026 issue of A Shade Colder is dedicated to transformations and new beginnings that emerge through major shifts, either personal, cultural or social.

In the opening interview, artist Merike Estna discusses with Laurie Cluitmans her interest in historical female painters and the ways caregiving work has shaped their practice, connecting it to the theme of parenthood. This topic is further explored by Eda Tuulberg in relation to motherhood in Baltic and Eastern European art.

Also reflecting on care, Joonas Pulkkinen shares his research, weaving together theoretical inquiry with his personal experience of becoming a father and tracing how it has reshaped his understanding of care.

A more existential and darker side of becoming is explored in a short story by Mia Wennerstrand and a visual essay by August Joost.

In This is how we gave birth to Baltic feminism, Mare Tralla, Jana Kukaine, and Agnė Narušytė examine how feminist art emerged in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in the 1990s, and how it has shaped the art scene since. Often dismissed as a foreign narrative, these practices in fact grew out of the artists’ lived experiences.

Marion Charlotte Bouvier focuses on the work of Britta Marakatt-Labba and the growing international recognition of Sámi art. Here, becoming refers to the labour of making oneself visible within the global art scene.

Alongside this, an article on the development of Baltic art museums and spaces, together with the Events Guide, takes the reader on a journey through the region – perhaps with a map by Alexei Gordin in hand.

This is the fifth print issue of A Shade Colder. The magazine was launched in 2022, when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine had begun only months earlier. Since then, it has aimed to provide a platform for Ukrainian artists and to donate half of its sales to the Ukrainian Art Emergency Fund.

Each print issue includes stickers by Ukrainian artists – in this issue by Katya Buchatska, whose series reflects on the process of building a relationship with a newborn.