Good Feelings Every Day. Juliana Irene Smith noticed those four words in early 2020, as she was walking through Helsinki, the city she now calls home. She snapped a photo of the Karaoke bar window and kept going. Good Feelings Every Day became her mantra, a little bit of optimism.<\/p>\n
She started to use the term for a body of photographic works \u2013 in her other artworks the words are less sentimental. The play and use of humor with often violent words makes space to acknowledge the pain as well as taking ownership of crass harmful sentiments.<\/p>\n
The book offers an intimate look into a foreign family\u2019s life in Finland. It’s not just smiles and birthday presents, but also vulnerability. A Yashica 35mm film camera accompanies her and her family as they make their way in Finland and the good feelings. It is a distant cry from the California past that she fled at the age of sixteen. Finland is where Smith came to understand what it means not only to be at home, but to feel at home. Still, it\u2019s not about a place. It\u2019s about moving forward \u2013 a visual narrative of daily life: not always good feelings every day, but sometimes, it is.<\/p>\n
Good Feelings Every Day<\/em> is a Photobook Award 2025 finalist.<\/p>\n