War is a Disaster,

Henri Airo, 2024

Open spine softcover with hand printed dustcover
190mm x 265mm
224 pages
English and Finnish
Published by Utu Press
Concept, photography and research by Henri Airo
Graphic design by Camilla Marrese
Book design by Henri Airo, Camilla Marrese and Toivo Heinimäki
Project Assistance by Veeti Valkama
Printed by KOPA, Lithuania
Edition of 300
ISBN 978-952-65274-2-0

Text contributions by Ahmed Al-Nawas, Susanna Hast, Noora Kotilainen, Saara Särmä & Leena Vastapuu


Awarded by The Finnish Book Art Committee in The Beatiful Book Awards 2024 in the category of Art and Photography Books, Winner of the Photo/Frome Photobook Award 2024.and finalist for the Finnish Photobook Award 2024.


Myths and traumas are the building blocks of collective consciousness. Canonised narratives create identities and affiliations — divisions between us and others. This stunningly researched and visually impressive work by photographer Henri Airo explores Finnish war remembrance and sums up the essence in the title: war is a disaster. 
- The Finnish Book Art Committee

Henri Airo’s book tackles an important and timely subject, the legacy of war in Finland. The book is an artistic research project composed of photographs, drawings, and documents. The combination of photographs and archival material is epistemologically successful, as it brings together both collective and personal memories. The layout and design of the book support this approach, allowing the reader to gain a deeper understanding by both reading and examining the images and documents more closely.
- Jury of The Finnish Photobook Award 

The judges were struck by the innovative design features, the tactility of the book as an object and how absorbing it was to engage with. Tracing history and relaying it with contemporary events was ambitious and of course a timely project.
- Photo/Frome Photobook Award 


35,00€ + shipping

Distributed in Europe by Utu Press
Distributed in US by Printed Matter

To order a signed copy, drop me an email: henri.airo@gmail.com

The Anatomy of the War Hero: A Guidebook

 
Henri Airo & Iivari Mikkonen, 2024

Softcover booklet
148mm x 210mm
24 pages
Finnish and English
Concept, research and design by Henri Airo and Iivari Mikkonen
Printed in Helsinki
Edition of 50
ISBN 978-952-94-9278-7

Self-published as part of the exhibition If Such a Scene is Presented Even Prior to the Opening Titles, it Grows in Significance, Hippolyte Korjaamo 14.6. - 11.8.2024.


In the background research for their exhibition at Hippolyte Korjaamo, Airo and Mikkonen read through works of literature which represent the historical figures of Finnish war heroes, whose heroic status is asserted through their actions in the Winter- and Continuation Wars. The research material was made up of a disparate selection of catalogues, comic books and historical novels adhering to varied degrees of historical accuracy. Through text and image, each of these publications uphold and contribute to the fictional image of the male Finnish war hero.

Analysing the language, characters and rhetorical devices of these works, the publication traces out a set of five rules that literature on war and heroism rely on to build a relatable yet distant ideal hero.