Ongoing in 2025
The Cape Evil Diaries – From frozen sheets to hot Kurdish kebab, fifty years apart. Photographs.
The Şeytanburnu Chronicles – The first novel in a trilogy that takes the reader on a journey through time in the Caucasus and beyond. To begin this work, I completed a one-month research-based residency at Arthere Istanbul in September 2023, and another independent research period in Istanbul in April 2024.
Transit – Documentary style photographs of my navigations through the transit space. The first of a series of changing exhibitions took place in Kristinestad, Finland in June 2024, and in Vaasa in May 2025. I currently focus on depth and more abstract details within this project, and will show more recent photos and video material during the Konstrundan weekend in 6-7 September 2025.
Past projects
Al-Qahira Expres – A novel published in June 2023. It’s a story about a boy who decides to walk to Egypt.
Stories From A Time Machine – Photographs that revolve around the relationship between image and story, fact and fiction, memory and emptiness. This series includes prints from dry plates, archival material from Istanbul, as well as my own photographs of places of significance.
Afropolis – Documentary photography on the transformation of urban environments in the Sahel region. The project began in the fall of 2019, and has since expanded to include any urban space within its scope.
En février écrivez – I participated in lesmots.co‘s one-month challenge to write fiction every day. One thousand characters daily on given topics, three thousand characters on weekends.
Get Ndaru Mool – Organic photography and a photo essay of portraits made on fish skin. They represent a community of fishermen who are losing their homes and jobs as a result of climate change, coastal erosion, and rising sea levels, in a world where all traditional and small-scale fishing and fish processing is at stake. These portraits were exhibited in Gorée in April 2019 by Fondation Dapper, and in Finland in June-July 2019 in a collective exhibition called The Ocean of Tuonela.
Deep – Underwater photography. This work pushed my own limits as defined by free diving. The series was exhibited in Finland and in St.Louis, Missouri (US), hosted by Barret Barrera Projects and curated by Modou Dieng / Blackpuffin.
Soundscapes from the Sahel – The Sahel region is anything but quiet. Inspired by this, I created short videos with music and other kinds of spontaneous sounds.
Azmari House, or What Happened After Midnight – A study of the Ethiopian institution of Azmari houses, cafes, and public space in general, and their role in contemporary Ethiopian urban culture.
Haal Pulaar! – A collection of my favorite words and phrases from the Pulaar language. You can read about my adventures in learning this language in my blog.
Ci biir dexu Senegal – stories from the Senegal river – A photo book with stories told by Idrissa Diallo. Translated from Wolof, the Finnish edition Tarinoita Senegaljoesta was published in March 2019.
Afropolis 2020: Saint-Louis – A home residency project carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic. The residency resulted in a series of photographs and a 45-minute documentary that I shot originally on an 8mm camcorder. Includes interviews.
Nordic Makers’ Film Festival – A presentation video for the festival held in Finland in October 2020. I am a member of the organizing committee of this festival through Yelema ry.
Evanesce – Underwater photography, mixed media. A series that combines documentary and the transmission of organic matter in my photographic work.
Recent exhibitions
6-7 September 2025: Open Studio during the Konstrundan weekend at Studio Fremdeling, Kristinestad, Finland. Photographs.
10-16 August 2024: Slow! Pinhole photographs, curating of a collective exhibition during the Città Slow week at Kulturhuset DUX, Kristinestad, Finland. Included also my own material.
14-17 June 2024: Transit. Photographs Vol. I at Norra Tullstugan, Kristinestad, Finland.
19 May – 19 June 2022, Dakar Biennale OFF. Laawol ngol ina juuti. Photographs at Saveurs de Ndar, Saint-Louis, Senegal.
13-18 June 2022, Time Machine. Photographs at Norra Tullstugan, Kristinestad, Finland.
12 July-10 August 2022, Tirkistelijät. Photographs in a collective exhibition at Starckes hus, Kristinestad, Finland.
September 2022: Harvesting of experimental prints produced with and on plants during the summer. Online exhibition.
In 4-5 September 2021 I open the doors to my summer studio during Konstrundan in Finland.
Afrikkalaisia Kaupunkitiloja – Afrikanska Urbana Rum, Photographs and a documentary screening. Pohjoinen Tullitupa (Kristinestad, 9.-16 August 2020). A home residency project supported by The Kone Foundation.
A work-in-progress preview on Afropolis, Ndar Ndar Music & Café (Saint-Louis, Nov.-Dec. 2019)
Collective: Barrett Barrera Projects and Blackpuffin are pleased to present Saint Louis to St. Louis: The City on the River meets River City curated by Modou Dieng, a major exhibition of contemporary art from Saint Louis, Senegal in St. Louis, Missouri (US) with a show celebrating sister cities across the great Atlantic Ocean and global artistic exchange of diaspora and hybridity (Oct. 17 – Dec. 21, 2019.)
Collective: The Ocean of Tuonela: Human and Temporal Impacts, 17-31 July at Bailiff Starcke’s House, Kristinestad, Finland.
Collective: Vivre! Photographie de la Résilience. Fondation Dapper, (29 March-29 April 2019, Gorée, Senegal)
Artskop’s exhibition catalogue Living! Photographs of Resilience
Evanesce – Ndar Ndar Music & Café (12-30 April 2019, Saint-Louis, Senegal)
Häivähdys. Photographs (10-20 June, Pohjoinen Tullitupa, Kristiinankaupunki, Finland)
Collective: Vivre! Photographie de la Résilience. Fondation Dapper, (29 March-29 April 2019, Gorée, Senegal)
Evanesce. Photographs on organic surfaces. (12-30 April 2019, Ndar Ndar, Saint-Louis)
Self. Portraits on wood (2018, Ndar Ndar, Saint-Louis)
Deep. Underwater portraits (June 2018, Kristinestad International Art Week, Finland)
Something is hatching at la Folie du Baron. Photographs (2017, La Résidence, Saint-Louis)
Ça Bouge. Photographs and video installation (2017, Festival Le Fleuve en couleurs, Saint-Louis)
Jamonoo Ngi Nii. Photographs and video installation (2016, Dakar Biennale OFF)
Collective: Dessins & Design. Photographs and light installations (2016, Galérie Éthiopiques, Saint-Louis)
Sabaru Demb – A Rhythmic Experience. Photography and recordings (2015, Galérie Éthiopiques, Saint-Louis)
J.K. Pikkujämsä 