Join the Consulate General of Finland and the Scandinavia House in cooperation with the Finnish & American Women’s Network, Inc. for an evening celebrating the work of award-winning Finnish photographer Jaakko Heikkilä.
In this artist talk, Jaakko Heikkilä will discuss his photographic process, which is rooted in meeting and getting to know people across cultures, from those of his youth in old fishing villages on the northern borders of Finland and Sweden, to the communities in Harlem in New York City, the subject of his recently published book, Sweet Song of Harlem (pub. Parvs, Finalnd.) Heikkila is also currently filming an autobiographical documentary, which is being produced by Swedish film director Bo Joan Sorensen of Brightnest Studios.
The talk will be followed by a reception. By participating you will automatically enter a rye bread raffle! We thank the Arctic Swan Bakery, and the Long Drink company for their sponsorship.
ABOUT JAAKKO HEIKKILÄ
Jaakko Heikkilä’s career as a photographer started in 1990, with a project about the Torne River Valley on the Northern borderlands of Finland and Sweden. This work, inspired by a region close to home, has since prompted Heikkilä’s numerous photographic projects across the globe, which often focus on communities that are in the minority in their respective countries.
Heikkilä’s work has been presented in over fifty solo exhibitions in Finland and abroad, in Germany, Sweden, Russia, Italy, France, England, Norway and in the USA. He was included in the 2005 Venice Biennale, participated in many group exhibitions and has published ten monographs.
Heikkilä was awarded the Barents Cultural Scholarship 2017, the State Prize for Photographic Art in 2007, the first prize in the “Time and Nature” International Art Competition in Hanau in Germany in 2002 and the Laplands Art Prize in 1993. He has attended many artist residencies and his work is in museum collections in Finland, Sweden and Germany.
