Image by
Kaisa Syrjänen




Press

The Incomplete Guide to Ecological Thinking in Photographic Practices Vol 2.
By PhMuseum
PhMuseum, 1.4.2025

Pöly pois patsaiden päältä
(in finnish)
By Laura Krohn
Ilkka-Pohjalainen, 6.2.2024

Olemme kokoontuneet muistamaan
(in finnish)
By Elina Järvinen
Suomen kuvalehti, 48/2024

Parjattu ja pidetty Jussi-patsas juhlii nelikymppisiään (in finnish)
By Anne Puumala
Ilkka-Pohjalainen, 15.4.2024

Henri Airo gör konst av polisrapporter 
(in swedish)
exhibition review 
By Mira Strandberg
Västra Nyland 24.11.2023 

Utopias-festivaali toi Lahteen tuulahduksen nuorta eurooppalaista kuvataidetta (in finnish)
By Ilkka Kuosmanen
Etelä-Suomen sanomat, 14.5.2023

Näyttely kuvaa rattijuopumuksen järkyttävät seuraukset (in finnish)
exhibition review
By Tuuli Penttinen-Lempisuo
Satakunnan kansa, 2.3.2023

Interview (in polish)
by Katarzyna Rodacka
Fabularie magazine, 2 (20) 2019

10 Most Interesting Photomonth Exhibitions (in polish)
By Martyna Nowicka
Szum Magazine, 21.6.2019

BIO

Henri Airo (b. 1996) is a visual artist, educator and curator based in Helsinki.

In his artistic practice Airo relates to different social phenomena through documentary narratives. Rooted in exchange and considering images together, his works typically develop through collaboration with individuals, communities and archives. His research-based projects often combine photography with other lens-based mediums, text and archival material.

Characterised by the dialectical document, Airo’s works engage with social subject matter while simultaneously remaining aware of how these subjects are constituted and shaped through representational media. Through a self-reflexive practice, his work strives for documentary forms that reinvest photographic images with impact and present rigid ideological structures as malleable and actionable. His practice builds polyphonic and layered narratives that come together as exhibition installations and artist books.  

Graduating with a BA in photography at the Lahti Institute of Design and Fine Art in 2021. His work has been exhibited at venues such as Krakow Photomonth (2019), Amos Rex (2020), PhMuseum LAB (2022) and Kunsthalle Seinäjoki (2025) among others. Along with his personal artistic practice, Airo also curates exhibitions, writes and teaches photography.


Solo Exhibitions

2025 Off-Places (with Toivo Heinimäki), Stoa Cultural Center (upcoming)
2024 War is a Disaster, Gallery Mältinranta Studio
2024 If Such a Scene is Presented Even Prior to the Opening Titles, it Grows in Significance, (collaboration with Iivari Mikkonen), Hippolyte Korjaamo
2023 Attempt at Calculating Negligence, Fotocentrum Raseborg
2023 Attempt at Calculating Negligence, Gallery Ratamo
2023 Off-Places (with Toivo Heinimäki), Gallery K
2023 Attempt at Calculating Negligence, Pori Art Museum Gallery
2023 Attempt at Calculating Negligence, Gallery Rajatila
2022 Unpredictable Certainty (with Camilla Marrese and Gabrielle Chiapparini), PhMuseum LAB
2019 Land of Significance, Gallery Uusi Kipinä
2018 Notes on Finnish Collective Memory, Museum Militaria

Selected Group Exhibitions

2025 Photo-Book Library, Belfast Photo Festival (upcoming)
2025 Summer Rain, Helsinki Kunsthalle (upcoming)
2025 Sleetbite, K17 Space for Art and Ecology
2025 Statuomania, Kunsthalle Seinäjoki
2022 OTOS/22, Maamusta Gallery
2022 Mail Art, B Gallery
2021 Fresh Eyes, Kellerstraat
2021 Nordic Village, Fotofestival Pelt
2020 Kosminen Salon, Kosminen Gallery
2020 Generation 2020, Amos Rex Museum of Contemporary Art
2019 Kuala Lumpur Photoawards, ILHAM Gallery
2019 Showoff 2019, Krakow Photomonth
2019 Searching for Beauty, Photofestival Lenzburg
2018 My Mortality is Killing Me, Mariankatu 23
2018 Nordic Village, Helsinki Photo Festival
2017 Yö, Gallery Kalleria

Studies

2021 BA in Photography, Lahti Institute of Design and Fine Arts
2019 Exchange studies, Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design

Publications

2025 ______ Ennobles a Person, zine, self-published
2024 War is a Disaster, monograph, published by Utu Press
2024 The Anatomy of a War Hero, zine (with Iivari Mikkonen), self-published 
2023 Likainen valokuva, anthology, published by LAB University, Finnish Museum of Photography and Utu Press
2021 Fresh Eyes, catalog, published by GUP Magazine
2020 Chaff Chaff, collective zine (with LiPa collective), published by Utu Press
2019 +380 x 46, collective zine (with VK16), published by LAMK
2017 Yö, collective zine (with VK16), self-published

Awards

2025 Winner, Photo/Frome Photobook Award
2025 Winner, Most Beatiful Book Prize in the category of Art and Photography Books
2025 Finalist, Finnish Photobook Award
2024 Selected for a comission by Kunsthalle Seinäjoki
2022 Winner, PhMuseum CRITICAE Prize

Grants

2024 Kone Foundation, two-year working grant
2024 Arts Promotion Center Finland, 6-month artist grant
2024 The Finnish Cultural Foundation (Nyland region), 6-month working grant
2024 Arts Promotion Center Finland, public display grant
2023 The Finnish Cultural Foundation, 6-month working grant
2023 Arts Promotion Center Finland, project grant as part of working group
2022 Kimmo Kaivanto Foundation, project grant
2022 Frame Finland, travel grant
2022 JOKES Foundation, working grant
2022 Arts Promotion Center Finland, working grant
2021 Arts Promotion Center Finland, working grant
2021 Otto A. Malm Foundation, publishing grant
2020 Finnfoto ry, publishing grant
2020 Olga and Vilho Linnamo Foundation, working grant
2019 Kauno Ry, project grant
2018 Föreningen Konstsamfundet, exhibition grant

Residencies

2023 Öres Residency Program

Curating

2023 Utopias Lahti Biennale
2021 Climate Utopias Visual Arts Festival

Collective work and organising

2025 Malmi/Collectives, artist-facilitator / founding member
2024 Sivu ry, founding member
2020 Utopias Lahti Biennale, founding member
2020 Lahti Association of Photographic Artists, member of the board (chair of the board 2022–)
2020 Union of Photographic Artists in Finland, member

Website design by
Aleksi Malinen