ACE-Forest Beyond Academia

The photo exhibition “Forest Neighbors in the Anthropocene: Communication” explores the diverse ways in which beings and elements within boreal forest environments connect and interact across spatial and temporal scales. At its core, the exhibition asks: who – or what – is a forest neighbor? How can we perceive the presence, essential signals and unique perception pathways of others through sight, sound, touch, or scent?

Forest neighbors are understood broadly and inclusively. They may be living beings such as humans, animals, trees, mosses, and grasses, but also non-living elements such as stones, wind, water, and sunlight. Entire ecosystems – forest stands, lakes, islands, and even nearby urban areas – can also be considered neighbors, interconnected through dynamic ecological and sensory relationships and different communication channels.

Through a range of artworks created by photographers and artists of different ages, disciplines, and cultural backgrounds, the exhibition highlights the richness and complexity of communication within and beyond human perception. The works invite audiences to reflect on subtle, often overlooked forms of interaction, and to reconsider their own position within a shared environment.

Currently, “Forest Neighbors in the Anthropocene: Communication” presents the creative works by three photographers and artists living in Kuopio – Daniel Kurhinen, Tata Asteri, and Victor Carrasco-Navarro. The selected photographs represent diverse approaches such as storytelling through photos, ecolyrical photography, and wild nature realism.

Daniel Kurhinen. “Storytelling through photos”

Approach & vision. “The forest is where I slow down and listen to diverse voices and images. Communication here is not loud. It exists in signals, movement and presence. My work explores this quiet dialogue through contrasts of scale, from vast skies to the smallest details, revealing a world that exists beyond human noise yet surrounds us constantly.” Daniel Kurhinen

About the author. Daniel Kurhinen is a Kuopio-based photographer and videographer focused on visual storytelling. With the author’s background in producing sports content for football agents and clubs, his work explores how movement, atmosphere, and subtle details can communicate stories beyond what is immediately visible. In the artworks, he is particularly interested in translating unseen interactions and moments into visual form.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tata Asteri “Ecolyrical photography”

Approach & vision. “Neighbors. A shared presence. Each holds its own spatial rhythm, its own music of light, its own subtle language. Together, they form spirals of life—interwoven, resonant, like a collective song. My photographs seek to reveal this forest harmony: a quiet chronicle of communication in its most truthful form”. Tata Asteri

About the author. Tata Asteri is a Kuopio-based environmental artist, writer, and journalist whose practice centers on ecological and lyrical photography. Drawing on her background in cultural journalism, her work combines environmental awareness with a poetic, emotionally attuned interpretation of ecological phenomena. She focuses particularly on the dynamic interactions between natural elements, revealing subtle relationships and forms of communication.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victor Carrasco-Navarro “Nature realism”

Approach & vision. “I see nature photography: as free of human interaction as possible and showing an environment as pristine as possible. Forests are one of the environments that has mostly interacted with humans in history, normally being on the losing side. Positively, more protected areas have been established but they are still developing a sense of independence from human influence and more common weather events hamper their true character”. Victor Carrasco-Navarro

 About the author. Victor Carrasco-Navarro is a Kuopio-based researcher, university teacher, and dedicated photographer. With a background in nature research, environmental science, and ecotoxicology, his documentary photography emphasizes the importance of preserving ecosystems in the face of human-driven degradation. His work is rooted in an appreciation of the beauty of unaltered nature and the complexity of uninterrupted ecological processes.