Projects
“Encounters” (Kohtaamisia) is an extensive photo series about street-based social workers of City of Helsinki, whose aim is to find people that have dropped out of the social system and guide them back to the social services.
Minna and Touko formed the pair responsible for the South of Helsinki.
Street-based social workers
The project was shot between February-August 2021 in co-operation with the City of Helsinki. The photo series shows the world of the street-based social workers who disembark in pairs across Helsinki - South, West, East and North. Their clients include, for example, homeless people and individuals struggling with substance abuse problems and memory illnesses. The goal is to help these people get back to the social system.
The aim is to bring awareness about the street-based social work by making an exhibition and photo book.
By getting the word out, more people can get help and faster. It is easy to end up on the street but difficult to get out.
She allowed me to take the photograph because it was her birthday on the day of the shooting.
Encounters
Besides making a narrative with variety of scenes, details and atmospheres, the aim was to portray the clients of the social workers in a dignified manner - as people, not as problems. The style also matched how the social workers treated their clients - with respect. Ultimately, the portraits formed the backbone of the series. The images from the encounters brought a lot of joy to the subjects themselves. Every encounter was a story in itself. We hope to tell these stories in a photo book…
“Kohtaamisia” (Encounters) at Kauppakeskus REDI 17.10.2021-1.1.2022
The first objective in raising awareness to the project was met with the exhibition at Kauppakeskus REDI. Hundreds of visitors saw the exhibition which had about 40 photographs. The exhibition was funded by TAIKE (Arts Promotion Centre Finland).
Photo Book with 80 pictures, 120 pages, backstories, etc. is expected to be published soon…
