Kalevi, Arja, Annika, Airi, Joni and Keijo Pitkänen

About Death

Death is a village in Finland. I saw it for the first time during a working trip through the back window of the taxi I was in. As the taxi driver drove into the courtyard of a small shop and exclaimed, “Welcome to Death!” I thought to myself: only in Finland can a village be called Death( In Finnish Kuolema). For me, it’s this relationship to death that separates the Swedes from the Finns. In Finland, you are born, then comes a long period of suffering, and then you die. In Sweden, you are born, everything is Jätte bra! (very good) and then you disappear. Like to Spain.

In Kuolema lives two identical twin sisters who are married to two brothers. They all live together in a house. Half of the house is theire home and the other half is a grocery store where the sisters work. The brothers work in the family's gravel company. They have a child per family born within seven weeks of each others. The family name is Pitkänen.

I have with my camera followed the lifes of the Pitkänen family and theire neighbours since the autumn 2002.

Some of the pictures can be viewed HERE .

The text from the book can be read HERE.

The book is sold:

- ONLINE: foto8.com (English web-shop) or luova.fi (Finnish web-shop)
- Finland: HELSINKI, Kiasma, Fotografi Museet, Hippolyte, KUOLEMA, K-extra Pitkänen
- Sweden: STOCKHOLM, Moderna Museet, Konstig, Galleri Kontrast, MALMÖ, Konsthallen
- Germany: FRANKFURT, Synart Art Gallery
- United Kingdom: LONDON, The Photographers Gallery

The serie Life in Death has been:

-published as a book called Elämää Kuolemassa-Livet i Döden-Life in Death on Musta Taide autumn 2005. ISBN 952-9851-67-7
-exhibited in Finland, Sweden and Germany since 2004
-nominated for Pressens Bilds stora Fotopris 2004
-awarded for the best final work at the photographic departement at the University of Industrial Design, TAIK, 2004.

The Swedish Photographers Association has reviewed the book in their magazine Fotografisk Tidskrift. The review, in Swedish, can be found HERE .
A review in English can be found at lensculture.com HERE.

If you would like to order the book, send me a mail, eva@evapersson.com, or use the information below.

Eva Persson
Elämää Kuolemassa / Livet i Döden / Life in Death
ISBN 952-9851-67-7
Musta Taide 2005