BioSari Soininen is an internationally recognised Finnish photographer. Sari holds an MA in photography from UWE Bristol (2021), BA from Lahti Institute of Design (2014), and she carried out exchange studies in Edinburgh College of Art (2013). Her colourful otherworldly photography draws from philosophical thoughts and personal, mystical experiences. Her interest is in providing the viewer with alternative ways of seeing the world and reality around them. She uses long shutter speed, colour gels and projection to build dreamlike alternate realities within the moment. Sari has limited edition works in private collections in Finland, the United States, Canada, Japan, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom. She is represented in France by Marie Valat Agency. Artist StatementShallow Waters, Misty Waves looks for the unusual in the usual, directing attention towards nature. The project draws from Finnish folk beliefs and different philosophical ideas and theories. The dreamlike, enigmatic photographs seek to reflect the emotional states and mental landscape that words only rarely succeed in capturing. The work examines the mysticism and strangeness of life in the midst of today’s busy, technology-obsessed everyday existence: In today’s world, where we are fixated on technology and commotion, we no longer observe our surroundings the way that we used to. Our environment has become meaningless and mundane. The project addresses how the mystery and magic of life used to be experienced in nature, but nowadays these things are obtained via technology. Images that might look like AI generated have been shot in the moment using long shutter speed, flashes and colour gels. If we pay attention to the small and banal things around us, if we give them a little longer look, we might find that there is an entire life behind all the things. Everything around us tells us a story about something that is hidden, something that we might have forgotten about.