Aki-Pekka Sinikoski is known as a versatile portrait photographer whose work has been exhibited both in Finland and abroad. Sinikoski studied at the Kunstakademiet at Kunsthøgskolen i Bergen, Norway, and received his Master’s degree from Aalto University, Finland. His major at Aalto University was photography. His best-known works include Finnish Teens, MJ and Last Machos. Sinikoski has been the executive producer and curator at the Helsinki Biennial since 2006.
Aki-Pekka Sinikoski held the KulttuuriKauppila residency with his daughter Astrid in July 2016. During the residency, the father and daughter continued their project Ghosts Watching over Me, initiated as early as 2012. The pair have been studying ghosts in different parts of the world since 2013. They soon learned that there are ghosts living quite close to us: under our beds, in the air-raid shelters of apartment buildings and in our unconsciousness. One feature common to all ghosts seems to be that they arise from fear and disappear in bright light. During their field work, the father and daughter realised that the more ghosts they came to know, the less daunted they felt themselves. When they talked with ghosts, they noticed that ghosts, too, were fearful. There is a myth among ghosts that the camera steals the model’s soul. The Sinikoskis helped the ghosts understand that it is actually the opposite.
The ghost study by the Sinikoskis will be published in 2050, and is expected to win several scientific and artistic awards. Before that, there will be many photo exhibitions in different parts of the world. These exhibitions will depict the father-daughter relationship and talk about their fears, dreams and daydreams.