Henri Airo: ______ aateloi ihmisen

Entrepreneur-Jussi (1984, Matti Peltokangas and Aarne Hakala-Rahko) is a bronze sculpture that stands in the Seinäjoki Central Square. Depicting a “man of action” from Ostrobothnia, the statue is inscribed with the personal motto of a local businessman Reino Saarinen, “Work Ennobles a Man”.

Henri Airo was chosen as the City of Seinäjoki’s Summer Artist for the Summer of 2024, during which time he researching the history of the controversial statue and the meanings that the city’s residents associate with it. The publication based on the project brings together articles from audience sections of local newspapers, documents found in the city archives, questionnaire response forms and photographs taken by Airo during the summer. Bound in an archive folder, the light volume maps the processes and power relations that define public art, while also serving as an unofficial 40-year history of the loved and hated statue.