Photographic artist Kati Leinonen has been selected for the Living Landscape residency in Vadsø, Norway. As part of the residency, she will spend one month at Vadsø Guest Studio in October 2026. The residency also includes the opportunity for her to give an artist talk and/or present her work as part of the Pohjoinen Valokuva Festival in Oulu in August and September 2027.
Leinonen was selected through an open call for a photographic artist residency with a focus on contemporary northern landscapes. The call was announced in January through a collaboration between Vadsø Guest Studio – Finnmark County Council, Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre, and the Finnish–Norwegian Cultural Institute. Hosted by Photo North, the open call received 15 submissions. The jury was impressed by the high quality of the submissions and the research-based nature of the project ideas.
The jury noted that Leinonen’s proposal corresponded particularly well with the thematic focus of the open call. She demonstrates a strong connection to the North, and her project responds meaningfully to the opportunity offered by the residency by engaging with ongoing research. Leinonen’s photographic practice was also regarded as interesting and innovative.
The selection was made by a professional jury consisting of representatives from the Finnish–Norwegian Cultural Institute (Pauliina Gauffin and Iiris Tarvonen), Vadsø Guest Studio FFK (Monica Milch Gebhardt), and photographic artist Morten Torgersrud from Kirkenes. As many of the applicants were affiliated with Photo North – Northern Photographic Centre, its representatives (Darja Zaitsev and Taija Jyrkäs) stepped out and took on a secretarial role during the jury meeting.
In her residency, Leinonen will focus on her interests in the anthropogenic threats affecting the northern landscape causing both visual and material changes. She will approach the seemingly ordinary landscape differently by inviting the materiality and agency of an organic living thing in the landscape to make the images with her. Juxtaposing the abstract camera-less images with the landscape images taken from the high north, she aims to create visual information about the landscapes, soil, and organisms that are subjected to the ever-present anthropogenic threat. She hopes that, with the help of research at the Climate-Ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundra (COAT), she will be able to dive into their analyses and data archives to better understand the changes in the nature of the high north due to climate change.
Kati Leinonen is an artist and photographer based in Oulu in Northern Finland. Leinonen studied photography at the London College of Printing (1999) and audiovisual media culture at the University of Lapland (2013). At the heart of her recent art practice is the notion of landscape and alternative ways to encounter and depict the landscape. She also works on art documentary projects that explore the communities and phenomena she has a personal connection to. Her work has been widely exhibited in Finnish institutions and galleries including the Finnish Museum of Photography, Oulu Art Museum, and Gallery Hippolyte. Her Äimärautio photobook that reflects on contemporary horse culture was a nominee for Photobook of the Year in 2019. Her works can be found in several collections including the Finnish State Art Commission
