Fairyland
Eveliina Hujanen

‘The word fairyland can be understood in many ways. It can be thought of as a utopia, a mythical other place parallel to our own. It can also signify a geographical location of particular beauty or spirit. The concept of a fairyland is common in European mythology- not least in my adopted homeland, Ireland. Fairyland as a utopia can be considered to reflect the world that we live in: whatever we choose fairyland to be, it is somehow mirroring the negatives and positives of our respective realities. For me, fairyland is experienced first and foremost as a state of mind. The images for the project are born when I’m not preoccupied with anything: there are no obligations for me to be, or to do anything than what I want to be or do just at that moment; it is a place that can be anywhere, but most often seems to manifest itself in places where I feel connected to my surroundings. The texts, taken from the major Irish newspaper’s front page or world news section, reflect the general mood through which I seek the moments of perfect presence.

The thing that fairyland in this project mirrors is not only the culture I live in and the general chaos that is the world as seen through news coverage. It also mirrors my relationship to photography. For someone who has a very complex relationship with photography and its uses it is relieving to realise that when I have nothing to do I still carry a camera with me. I’ve used photography to document conflicts, consequences of war, for pr, as holiday pictures: always to communicate a preconceived agenda set for the pictures. Taking these pictures, there hasn’t really been one; the concept developed when I was pondering the meaning of the word fairyland as the summer slowly turned to autumn. Fairyland is a place, too: the first image of the project, taken on the first Sunday back in May after a long winter in Finland was taken near a place that historical records show was called Fairy land.’

Eveliina is a Finnish photographer based in Cork. She completed has an MA in Photography from Aalto University.