A four-year participatory art project that gives voice to young people who feel invisible in urban spaces. The exhibition and documentary open at the Kumu Art Museum.
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Recipient: Non-profit organization Sa Suudad · Registration code: 80637421
Donations collected on this page will go either to the implementation of the “Hoia mind kaisus” exhibition project (the completion of the young people's artworks, the structure of the exhibition and related activities) or, at your choice, to support the general activities of MTÜ Sa Suudad. Donations are mediated by Maksekeskus AS. All donations will be received into the MTÜ Sa Suudad (register code 80637421) bank account and will be used only for the fulfillment of the statutory objectives. If you have any questions, write to info@sasuudad.ee. Read how we process your data when donating and making payments, we privacy policy →.
For the past four years, documentary filmmaker and youth artist Marta Vaarik and her team have been developing the participatory art project “Hold Me Tight” .
In August 2026, an exhibition of the same name will open in the courtyard of the Kumu Art Museum, focusing on the mental health of young people, the influence of childhood, and the importance of empathy.
Why is this project necessary?
In today's urban environment, many young people are left alone with their worries. The sense of community is weakening, there is less awareness, and people tend to judge each other based on first impressions.
The “Hold Me Cuddle” project helps break down these barriers.
It calls for looking deeper: seeing behind a person's behavior and understanding their story.
This is especially important for young people who engage in risky behavior. Often, an outwardly harsh or dismissive attitude hides pain, loss, or loneliness. If you really look a person in the eye, most people are actually nice.
It's the same story with young people in closed childcare who exhibit risky behavior. They're loud, energetic, sometimes such p***y guys, but when Marta and her team sit down to interview a 16-year-old boy face-to-face, he suddenly turns into a four-year-old whose father died and whose mother moved in with a new man the next day, leaving him home alone for two weeks.
The exhibition, created in collaboration with the Kumu Art Museum, is a large part of a documentary film of the same name, which will premiere in 2027, and will tell the story of the lives of these young people. The money is available to make the documentary. The aim of the exhibition is to give these young people the opportunity to be heard, to lead and think for themselves, and thus to create their own art. It has been proven that if young people who engage in risky behavior have even one safe adult who believes in their better future, their future will actually become better.
We believe, help us believe and please start believing yourself! If you donate money, Marta Vaarik's team can bring the ideas of the young people to life, for example, to make a real action film with the boys, so that they can see that you can get high in other ways than drinking and fighting. There are completely safe and legal ways, such as filmmaking, art and music creation. The art projects of the young people who need support come in different forms: short films, photography, music videos, installations, sculptures, etc.
All nine of these works will be exhibited in the courtyard of the Kumu Art Museum, curated by Anders Härm. Admission to the exhibition is free for everyone. FREE. We create leisure opportunities for the exhibition to bring together the art audience and young people, so that we can all feel comfortable looking at uncomfortable art together.
The opening of the Kumu exhibition is the last scene of our documentary, the moment where we see the faces of the young people participating in the film for the first time, all together, among the people, the President of Estonia, influencers, politicians and YOUR next to!
We still live here like a small village, everyone knows everyone: we take care of each other as a community should, and together we create a better future for everyone. Your support will help us change the world. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Children are the most vulnerable people in the world, who have the right to be respected, listened to and loved.
The NGO Sa Suudad is a partner of the Keep Me in the Cuddles team in terms of charity funds.
Non-profit organization You Can Do It
IBAN: EE587700771010145417
Explanation: Hold Me Close
If you would like to donate more money or come along to the filming day, or if you have any ideas or questions, please feel free to contact us. If you wish, we can send you a video introduction to the upcoming film.
tel: +372 5340 4940
email: martavaarik@gmail.com
Marta Vaarik, Juri Krutii and the Hoia Mind Kaisus team
All donations are used specifically to support young people's creative projects within the framework of the statutory objectives of MTÜ Sa Suudad.
All donations go to 100%:
for young people to create works;
for work with young people outside KLAT;
to conduct educational programs;
for a public awareness campaign;
for a follow-up program,
which supports the self-realization of young people.
Works created by young people
The work of nine young people will reach the courtyard of the Kumu Art Museum
An adult and a child belong to different generations, and it is difficult for one to understand the other. It is not easy, but that does not mean it is impossible. In the end, it is up to us to decide whether we want to meet each other.
“I didn’t want to die. But I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I wanted you to notice. I didn’t want attention. I needed help. How many cries for help does a person have to hide before we learn to listen?”
The work speaks of malaise, inner anger, and the desire to belong, through a disjointed, lyric-based story of city nightlife.
The story of the night when young people escaped from a closed childcare facility in Kaagvere and drove through Southern Estonia in a stolen car.
A very personal and difficult work about the darkest moment of life and what comes after: a message to all who feel alone and unheard, that here is a space where their story can be told and carried forward with a lighter heart.
The dog symbolizes loyalty, honesty, and friendship, qualities that are easier to trust in an animal than in a person if previous experiences with adults have been harsh and restrictive. The work asks: what is love, and does everyone deserve attention, even if everyone needs it in different ways.
A work about self-harm in young people, which is mostly not “attention seeking” in the simple sense, as is sometimes thought, but a way of coping with something very intense when other tools have not yet emerged.
Jelena, Kauina, Lana, Karl, Mai Tea, Kasp, Indus, Roosa, Adam, Hindrek, Ariana, Juri Krutii and Marta Vaarik.
“I’m fine at home.”
Irja Ivarinen, Hisko Vares, Anneli Kolk, Anna-Daniel Karlsen, Anna Frank, Rita Holm.
Unlike any other ATM, it gives you one of the most precious currencies: empathy.
Objects that will be placed in the Kumu courtyard and in which the young people's works will be placed: a shipping container, a children's wooden playhouse, a bus shelter, advertising boards and an ATM. A street basketball court will also be set up in the Kumu courtyard for the duration of the exhibition.
Previous media coverage of the “Hold Me In Your Arms” exhibition (previous collaboration between Marta Vaarik and the leader of the NGO Sa Suudad, Enelis Linnas, in the project view):