My Background
I was born during somewhat unusual circumstances in 1966 in Helsinki, Finland by two Finnish-Swedish photographers who had already made a career when I arrived. My father was working as a press photographer at the biggest Swedish speaking newspaper in Helsinki and remained there until his retirement. My mother, who met my father during a summer job, was a freelancing pressphotographer. Her career has since been varied. It is only natural that the question most frequently asked when I was growing up was not "so what will you become when you grow up", but "does the apple fall close to the tree..?", with a suggestive smile, of course. Naturally, I would vehemently deny any idea of the sort. Nonetheless, I did enjoy looking at photographs and was probably a passive listener of my parents' discussions (not to mention a passive smoker!) I got my own camera when I was 13. However, two parents of the same trade don't necessarily make the most harmonious of matches, and so they divorced when I was 11. Things where in fact very difficult from about the time that I was 4 years old, and so I was relieved to recieve more space to breathe and develop my interests.
Emotions 1/6 © 2001
I was a shy child who grew up too quickly, and fled to a world of my imagination in order to cope better with reality. I later discovered that I was no doubt what is now called "a highly sensitive personality" and an "empath" who has more compassion for other people than they necessarily "deserve", to put it crudely. My cat Katinka whom I was given when I was two years old kept me company and gave me comfort for most of my life until I left for England to study interior design on a one year diploma course.
Vivi-Mari and her beloved cats always knew how to have a good catfight!
Photo by Chris Hackman
Katinka sadly died during my abscense and I hate to admit that at that point in my life, I was not emotionally equipped to deal with this in a normal way. I was more obsessed with the abstract concept of beauty and my life in a bubble. At some point it became clear to me that I would have to make a leap of faith and dive into life, with all that it implies in terms of chaos and challenges.
And so I grew up...
I studied for many, many years until my spinal dysfunction (a childhood deformity) forced me to look for an alternative to working life. I recieved my disability in 2003. My studies included the one year of interior decoration in England, four years of various forms of art and design in France when it occurred to me that I might have some latent creativity to uncover (though the tuition was admittedly not terribly encouraging), as well as eight happy years at the University of Helsinki. Philosophy and art history ended up as my minors, and I majored in the science of religion. I studied several languages, including Russian, Chinese and German, though I would not pretend to remember more than the very basics of these. I recieved my Masters degree in 1999. Getting there certainly did take me long, but at least I made it! My thesis dealt with the ontological status of creativity within the New Age movement.
Kind of Out of It © 2004
I was very interested in and inspired by Buddhism and mysticism, and so the 90s was the time during which I conducted a lot of theoretical research and the establishment of my own spiritual thinking. During that time I did do a course in intuitive massage therapy, which helped me feel more in touch with other people in a concrete way while I was helping them to the best of my ability (the lack of the use of the sense of touch and true connection between people I consider a big problem in our society). I do not follow any creeds although I am certainly inspired by new spiritual thinking, especially Ken Wilber's integral philosophy.
Om Mani Padme Hum © 2008
(abstract photography)
