“I believe everything is already here—we are just learning to notice it.”
Rooted in Shifting Landscapes
Eleanora Alis Tofte, known professionally as E.A. Tofte, grew up at a moment of national rebirth. Born in Estonia just before the country regained its independence from the Soviet Union, she experienced two very different versions of her homeland. Her mother, a committed patriot, instilled in her an awareness of the world beyond national borders, and a belief that making one’s voice heard often comes with personal cost. Both parents left their rural towns for the capital, seeking greater opportunities for their children, yet they kept the family’s bond with the natural world alive.
That connection to nature runs deep in Tofte’s practice. Estonia’s dense, whispering forests and the brilliant turquoise waters of the Cayman Islands, her second home, form a dual source of inspiration. These contrasting geographies frame her perspective on humanity’s place within the environment, allowing her to see both the resilience and fragility of ecosystems. In her eyes, nature is never a distant backdrop but a living participant in her work.
For Eleanora, early exposure to these different landscapes nurtured an understanding of life as a balance between rootedness and movement. The quiet persistence of trees, the vast expanse of the sea, and the histories embedded in both have shaped her approach to art. Her creative process is as much about observing and listening as it is about making, each piece becoming a conversation between what is seen, what is remembered, and what is possible.
E.A. Tofte: An Evolving Creative Journey
Tofte’s artistic path began in childhood when her mother enrolled her in a traditional art school at the age of eight or nine. There, she immersed herself in drawing, sculpture, painting, printmaking, and art history. Alongside these visual pursuits, she discovered a strong pull toward literature, publishing poems while still young and moving fluidly between the disciplines of image and word. These early intersections of writing and art continue to inform her multifaceted approach today.
Financial pressures eventually shifted her focus toward work, prompting her to study part-time fashion in London before transferring to journalism. Writing became a vital outlet for expression, yet visual art remained a quiet constant. In her thirties, she returned to formal art studies, committing fully to her practice. This layered trajectory gave her both technical grounding and the ability to see creative work as a lifelong process rather than a fixed destination.
Her style is anchored in an exploration of structure, surface, shadow, and light. She works across mediums, often collecting found objects and allowing them to guide her projects. Landscapes form a continuous thread in her work, though they are never mere depictions of place; they often incorporate remnants left behind by people or events. This approach shaped her ongoing series Are We Disposable, which includes her recent tree-and-fabric installation. For Eleanora, working outdoors and observing changes over time is essential, transforming natural and human-made elements into interconnected narratives.
Public Memory and Acts of Care
One of Tofte’s most meaningful works emerged from a collaboration at a local bus stop, where she was invited by two fellow artists to respond to the site’s history. The location once held a landmark structure that had been destroyed and rebuilt, with only the original metal pillars surviving. Tofte wrapped these pillars in white cloth, an intentional gesture of care and remembrance, offering a tactile link between the present and what once stood.
This project was part of the group exhibition Waitiling, a term combining “waiting” and “wondering,” which questioned the nature of suspended futures. For Eleanora, the work explored how collective memory interacts with public space, asking whether waiting can become a permanent state and how communities navigate change that arrives both suddenly and incrementally. The act of wrapping the pillars served as both an offering and a question: how do we honour what remains while remaining open to what is yet to come?
Through this piece, she addressed broader environmental and social concerns, emphasizing that all lives and voices share responsibility for the future of our surroundings. The project became a living metaphor for the transformations shaping our times. In Tofte’s view, public art has the power to gather people around shared spaces, encouraging them to see both history and the present moment as interdependent.
E.A. Tofte: Structure, Stillness, and Shared Space
Tofte’s working days are built around rhythm and intentional pauses. Early mornings provide her with a space for reading, research, and quiet preparation before entering the flow of making. Communication with the wider world is an important part of her practice, yet she also values the moments when she can close her studio door, switch off her phone, and become fully absorbed in her work. Balancing this with family life as a mother of two requires adaptability and the support of her loved ones.
She has practiced yoga for over two decades, a discipline that informs her physical and mental approach to creating. Occasional amateur acting classes have also given her tools to navigate public speaking with greater confidence, while allowing her to explore expression outside the visual arts. These experiences weave into her ability to engage with audiences in both intimate and large-scale settings.
Looking ahead, Eleanora is drawn to public and site-specific projects that invite repeated encounters, where each visit reveals something new. She thrives in collaborative environments and is eager to deepen her exploration of sculpture. For her, these works are not simply objects but evolving sites of dialogue, where the boundary between artist, audience, and environment is porous, and the meaning of the piece can shift with time.
