PHOTOGRAPHY AND MENTAL HEALTH

Sari Soininen (b.1991) is a Finnish photographer based in Helsinki, Finland. Her colourful otherworldly photography draws from philosophical thoughts and personal mystical experiences. The purpose of her work is to invite viewers to see the world and reality around, in new ways.

After completing her Bachelor’s Sari began a career in graphic design, event photography, and animation. In 2019 she decided to pursue fine art photography and started her masters. Her photography has been published on: FT Weekend, Fisheye, LensCulture, British Journal of Photography, and Liberation Magazine. She has exhibited all over the world and was nominated as PHMuseum’s Top 14 Graduates to Watch in 2021.

After completing my BA I gave up photography for a long time. In my mid-20s I experimented with LSD in very unhealthy amounts and ended up having an extended psychotic episode which had serious consequences on my life but also profoundly changed the way I perceive the world and reality itself. When the psychosis began to fade away I started to make self-portraits as a therapy form. First of all it was something to do, but pretty quickly it became a very important way for me to deal with what I was going through.

I began to use long-shutter speed, projection and colour gels to reflect my mind. A few years later I went to the UK to do my masters in photography and made the project “Transcendent Country of the Mind.” This is when photography became an important tool for dealing with my mental health.

Sari thank you so much for joining me today, please tell us about your greatest inspirations or influences.

Sari: The inspiration for my work comes from philosophical thoughts, personal mystical experiences and nature. Since a young age I have read a lot of philosophy and psychology because the mystery of our being has always fascinated me. I think this year's long “research” is reflecting on my images. Nature has always been very important for me as well, so that is why a lot of my images are taken in nature.

photography is a way for me to perceive the world and express myself, it is also a form of therapy. I like to make work about my personal issues, and hopefully it can give some relief for the viewer as well. Healing in me happens when I take the images and when I go through the images; When you make a project about something, you constantly think about the things that are related to the project, things that have happened to you, or things that are bothering you. So you sort of actively process the traumas and issues on your mind; You don’t need to talk about the things, or you don’t even need to think about the things consciously - They are just constantly with you while you make the work and you sort of process and eject these traumas or issues out to the images.

The psychosis I went through in my mid-20s is for the time being the biggest influencer in my present work. Going through something so profoundly different to our normal perception changes you forever. I feel like I gained a new way of seeing because of it, and with photography, I can share this way of seeing with other people. The psychosis also made me find photography again, so I am not sure whether I would be making images now if I didn’t go through what I did. 

How are the current trends in technology and innovation affecting your work as a creative?

I think the current trends in technology can make exceptional things possible for example when you are building and exhibition: You can make much more holistic experiences, which is something that I am interested in. I consider myself as a photographer but I am also interested in using different methods and techniques in exhibitions. Usually the things that I photograph are quite mental and hard to translate to people who have not experienced the same things. So I think with different technology I can better transmit my thoughts to the viewer.

I’d love to hear more about your creative process.

I usually tend to do research and take images at the same time, so the starting point of the project usually tends to blend in with the end point of the project. 

I read books about things that interest me and go to places where I get inspired. Sometimes a project can begin when I am on a walk somewhere and take a picture of something. I take photos of things that catch my attention, usually pretty banal things, and I don’t always know why I need to take the photograph. It is just later when I go back to that image, I understand it is reflecting something that is going on in my life, or something that I have been for example reading about. Sometimes I do more considered projects and images, where I research into a subject and then begin to build up the images in my mind.

In my work I use a lot of long-shutter speed and colour gels, so people usually happen to think I do a lot of postproduction on my images. But I actually do very little postproduction: I like to build these dreamworlds and alternate realities in the moment.

What do you think of the art world and how it works in general?

To be fair, I am pretty new to the art world! It was just about a year ago when I finished my masters and got sucked into it. All the publicity for me came in quite a short period of time when Transcendent Country of the Mind hit it off. I think the art world can be pretty confusing at first, but once you begin to understand it you can enjoy its interestingness. For me, it has been very pleasant so far!

Anything coming up that we should know about?

A book of Transcendent Country of the Mind will be published this Autumn (2022) by the Eriskay Connection. And a book of The Black Cat Kingdom will be published next year (2023) by Besidess Press. I am also working on a massive solo exhibition in Finland next year - But I can’t give more details about that yet! 

I am also currently working on a new project with the working title “Shallow Waters, Misty Waves”. The project is still very much work-in-progress but so far it is combining self-portraiture with images taken in nature. The work is dealing with our nature relationship, reflecting on old Finnish paganism and its relationship to today’s technology-filled world.

What does wellbeing mean to you and anything in particular that you practice?

Living life on my own terms is wellbeing for me. I need my freedom to be able to be happy, and I think that choosing a career as an artist enables this. It obviously comes with its own difficulties, but without difficulties there cannot be wellbeing either.  Like I mentioned before, photography is a tool of therapy for me that links to wellbeing too.

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Visuals courtesy of artist from the Transcendent Country of the Mind and Spinster series.