Ida Taavitsainen: Fuji-san (car park)

The work is part of the series A Sense of Heartbreak, which the photographer began in 2013. The series explores her relationship with Japan, her husband’s homeland, and her children’s second home. While in Japan, she is simultaneously an outsider and part of the family community. Although she is a welcome guest, she inevitably remains somewhat outside due to language barriers and cultural differences. Through her images, she seeks to capture this feeling and to visualise what she cannot put into words.

“A sense of heartbreak as when one knocks away a brilliant coating of snow frozen onto a tree trunk”
–Ryunosuke Akutagawa: The Life of a Stupid Man.

About the artist
Ida Taavitsainen is a Helsinki-based photographer working with analogue photography. Her work often explores memory, family ties, presence and absence, and people’s emotional attachment to places and objects. Taavitsainen earned her Master’s degree in Fine Art Photography in 2014 at the Royal College of Art in England. Her work has been included in group exhibitions in Europe and Asia, including the Finnish Museum of Photography, Loviisa City Museum, and the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (KMOPA) in Japan. Her works are in the collections of the Arts Council of Finland and KMOPA.

By purchasing this print, you are donating 10 € to forest protection

The Association of Photographic Artists is participating in the Finnish Natural Heritage Foundation´s (Luonnonperintösäätiö) campaign that is raising funds for the Art Forest (Taiteen metsä). The artist donates 5 € and the Association of Photographic Artists doubles the donation.