Endless Summer

I am Aki-Pekka Sinikoski and Endless Summer is my photography project presenting the Finnish post-war generation. The men of that generation who climb, as if honoring the memory of their own war generation fathers, to the burning hot tin roofs of their houses to fix fire escapes, their newly installed hip prostheses creaking. The series of photographs paint a picture of the dearly beloved ones who can be found in almost everyone’s circle of acquaintances and whose everyday feats of valor spouses and children observe sometimes with great amusement and at other times with ultimate terror. Endless Summer is all about identity, change, loneliness, and in a broader sense about manliness and the essence of what it means to be a (Finnish) man. This series is a continuation of the photography series entitled Finnish Teens that I photographed earlier. Finnish Teens looked at teenagers by documenting the time racing by between childhood and adulthood and the sprouting identities that can be observed in teenagers exploring who they truly are as individuals. They are pictures of eager anticipation mixed with fear; the hope that one’s wings would become strong enough and one would rediscover oneself and one’s place in the world. The world is changing at an accelerating speed and just like a teenager looking at oneself in the mirror, an old man may have difficulties in recognizing the face in the mirror as one’s own. Furthermore, just like the teenager, the old man hopes that his wings will support him and make him soar: for as long as possible.