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Waters and Flows, The Forest of the North Wind – Ritva Kovalainen & Sanni Seppo

This exhibition is built upon material from Ritva Kovalainen´s and Sanni Seppo’s award-winning photographic research project, “The Forest of the North Wind”. Consisting of photographs, video works, and documents, the exhibition focuses on the inseparable connection between water and forests, as well as forest biodiversity within the sphere of influence of various ecological flows.

The exhibition also illustrates the significant impact of peatland and forest ditching on forest, peatland, and aquatic ecosystems alike. In natural streams, water meanders and delays. In modified streams and ditches, however, water carries away soil, nitrogen, phosphorus, and methylmercury – dispersing them into water bodies along the way. Humus clogs fish spawning gravels, lakes darken, and ecosystems change in numerous ways. There are hardly any waters left in a natural state in southern Finland.

The exhibition is part of the Festival Norpas program and has been produced in collaboration with KUBU. The Pohjoistuulen metsä exhibition has been supported by the Kone Foundation and The Finnish Museum of Photography. KUBU’s water theme year has been supported by the Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland.

Ritva Kovalainen (b. 1959) is a photographic artist whose numerous books, short films, exhibitions and public artworks are focused particularly on the human relationship with nature.

Sanni Seppo (b. 1960) is a photographic artist whose work speaks about people’s community action to defend their rights, their relationship with nature, and their fragile dreams of living lives unique to themselves.