SARI SOININENTranscendent Country of the Mind 1.2.2025 – 23.2.2025

My colourful and dreamlike style of photography stems from philosophical theories and personal mystical experiences. My aim is to offer viewers new perspectives on the world and reality that surround them. I use colour gels, flashes of lighting and long exposure times to create alternate realities in the moment. Photography is a therapeutic tool for me.

Our perception of reality changes when we look at the small, seemingly insignificant details around us. Completely new worlds may be revealed behind everyday things. This change in perception can open up new ways for us to understand ourselves and our relationship with reality.

When I was young, I experienced a drug-induced psychosis that lasted several months and has left an indelible mark on my work. This deeply traumatic but also eye-opening experience has shaped my artistic expression and is the main inspiration for my series Transcendent Country of the Mind.

Transcendent Country of the Mind provides an insight into the reality of my psychotic experience, which took place in the borderland between heaven and hell. The photographs in the exhibition offer glimpses into this mystical and extreme world. While there, I abandoned all my earthly possessions, confronted the demons of hell and was shown the wonders of heaven; I travelled through time and space and peered into the different dimensions of consciousness. Having now fully recovered, my understanding of reality has changed forever. My photographs are glimpses into what I found behind the curtain of reality.

During my psychosis, my everyday world took on a mysterious and strange quality: ordinary things appeared new, and even the smallest details carried deep significance. My photographs reflect this experience through precise compositions that focus on details. The images are not arranged haphazardly; their order illustrates the internal logic of my mind during the period of psychosis, when things convened in strange and magical ways that, while perhaps unintelligible to others, were perfectly logical to me.

The photographs, taken in Finland and England between 2019 and 2021 following the psychotic episode, represent my journey from trauma to recovery. The exhibition also features excerpts from my 2022 book of photographs, Transcendent Country of the Mind, which includes texts describing events that took place during the episode.

My exhibition will also include my self-portraits, taken between 2017 and 2024. They have served as a tool for self-expression, self-therapy and the exploration of my self-image. I began taking self-portraits while I was recovering from my psychotic episode. For me, self-portraits are a way to see the world from a new perspective and bring a touch of imaginative ‘other reality’ to one’s everyday experiences. My photographic process is focused on questions and themes of existence, but often not approached through conscious thought.

Sari Soininen

Photographer Sari Soininen (b.1991) holds a BA in Media Arts from the Lahti Institute of Design (2014) and an MA in Photography from the University of the West of England, Bristol (2021). Soininen’s works have gained international fame and been published in prestigious international newspapers, magazines and photography publications. She has had success in international photography competitions and received a number of awards. In Finland, her photographs have been displayed in various exhibitions, including an extensive exhibition at the Lahti Museum of Visual Arts Malva 2023–2024.