Aino Vaananen

I'm a Finnish photographic artist based in Berlin, working primarily in two regions I know well: the Scandinavian Arctic and Eastern Europe. The years I have spent living and working across Eastern Europe shape my pull toward people and places that exist beyond the mainstream view, often dismissed or oversimplified by dominant narratives. Intimacy matters to me, so I spend a lot of time with the people I photograph. Those who I photograph are neither victims nor heroes but multifaceted people navigating circumstances often beyond their control.

In Lapland, I'm exploring how new mining and green energy developments impact communities still living with the environmental trauma of river damming that devastated both the communities and the river nature decades ago. Since 2018 I've also been documenting those struggling with opioid addiction in Romania, a crisis rooted in the country's post-communist transition.

I was the 2025 Visiting Artist of the Finnish Cultural Institute in Germany and Artist of the Year at the Northern Photographic Centre. My work has been exhibited internationally across Finland, Germany, France, the UK, and Russia, and is held in the collection of the Finnish Art Society. I edit the independent photography zin...

MA, University of Helsinki (2013)

7-8/2026 - Sacrificed Lands (Galerie gr_und / Berlin)
4/2026 - Sacrificed Lands (Kunstquartier Bethanien / Berlin)
9-12/2025 - In Shallow Waters I Walked (La Chambre / Strasbourg)
6-8/2025 - Dandelions (Photo North / Oulu)
2-6/2025 - Dandelions - Visiting Artist of the year (Finnish Culture Institute / Berlin)
2022-2023 - Vanishing Point - Artist of the Year (Photo North / Oulu & Muhos)