Ilkka Saastamoinen

I’ve wondered why Heinola is so dear to me and what it is turning into. While living in temporary apartments or a local camp site I have explored the town from the position of a returning migrant.

Heinola, like many industrial towns that grew quickly, is transitioning: growth turning into unemployment and its side effects. Hard working, blue collar life style inherited from parents and grandparents is hard to apply in today’s Finland, that geographically and economically is not a suitable location for industrial corporations.

As an artist, I’m interested in the phenomena caused by the industrial restructuring in society; how the collapse of employment in small industrial towns effects younger generations and their identity.

Works from the series have been exhibited in Jukka Male Museum in Helsinki, Lahti Art Museum and currently exhibiting in Photographic Centre Peri in Turku.

The documentary series has been kindly supported by Kone Foundation.