Are We There
Jenni Toivonen
Kult Books
English and Finnish
Hardcover
80 pages
215 × 260 mm
2025
ISBN 9789198760774
In 1929 a group of Finns, including my great grandparents and their family, set out to Brazil to build a utopian community in the tropics. Their mission was to live in harmony with nature, separated from the capitalist society and to lead a life based on vegetarianism. The group settled on abandoned mountainous land in the state of Rio de Janeiro and founded a community called Penedo, which despite its practical difficulties became one of the most famous examples of Finnish utopia migration during the 20th century. Nowadays the old village is surrounded by the memory of the utopian era as well as by the highly biodiverse but endangered Atlantic Forest.
Are We There investigates migration, memory and the connection between human and nature. It tells about the reflection of history in today’s world, as well as about the concept of utopia and longing for something distant as a catalyst for human action. Old photos from my family’s album are printed into risographs and create parallels with colorful leaks and burns born in the analog process, alluding to the material origin and constructed nature of a photograph.
At the core of the work lies a performative journey to the old village, where I try to build a connection with the past by re-imagining and reconstructing it. Like with the original settlers, the work stems from a primitive desire to connect with the earth and the non-human world. Through rituals that immerse the human body in its environment, I explore the questions of origin, belonging and coexistence.
(Source: https://jennitoivonen.com/are-we-there/)
About the Artist
Jenni Toivonen (b.1993, Finland) is a visual artist working in the extended field of fine art photography. Her practice revolves around the interconnectedness of life, ecosomatics, deep ecology, kinship and spirituality, which she often explores through the materiality of the human body and the earth. She sees the body as a vessel for a primal creative force and a portal for a deeper existential understanding and alignment. Through corporeal methods, she seeks to build reciprocity and reinforce her connection with the land and the non-human realm. Her practice is motivated by the entanglements of personal and environmental storylines and based on research and analog processes.
https://jennitoivonen.com
(Source: https://jennitoivonen.com/about/)
About the Publisher
Kult Books is an independent publishing project for photography and other lens-based visual arts founded by Janne Riikonen in Stockholm, Sweden. Kult Books publishes monographs and artist books that embrace a personal artistic vision and visual language. The publications are created in close collaboration with the artists, the physical form designed to support the concept of the work.
www.kultbooks.com
(Source: www.kultbooks.com/about)
