Meeri Koutaniemi
Meeri Koutaniemi in Kiasma, February 2016.
Born (1987-11-01) 1 November 1987 (age 36)
Kuusamo, Finland
NationalityFinnish
Alma materTampere University
Known forPhotography.

Meeri Koutaniemi (born 1987)[1] is a Finnish photographer and journalist. Koutaniemi is known for her reportages and portraits on issues concerning human rights, minorities and empowerment.[2]

Biography

Koutaniemi was born in Kuusamo. After comprehensive school, she moved from Kuusamo to Oulu to study theatre in upper secondary school. After living six months in Oulu she moved to Helsinki, where she studied music and dance at The Sibelius Upper Secondary School. She has studied photojournalism at The University of Tampere.[3]

Since 2011, Koutaniemi has been travelling and working around the world, such as in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Koutaniemi is a founder member of an Italian Photo Agency Echo and Finnish Collective 11.[4]

Koutaniemi is partly of Romani descent, and according to a DNA test she took in 2018, she also has Central Asian and Eskimo ancestry.[5][6]

Acknowledgements and criticism

Koutaniemi has won several awards in Annual Press Photo Competition by Finnish Press Photographers’ Association. In 2012, she won the portrait of the year award. In 2013, Koutaniemi won six categories in Annual Press Photo Competition: photographer of the year, multimedia of the year, photo of the year, foreign reportage of the year, portrait of the year and people's choice.[4] In 2014, she won in two categories: photographer of the year and foreign reportage of the year.[7]

In 2014, Koutaniemi won the Visa D'or Daily Press Award in Visa pour l’Image in Perpignan, France, and Freelens Award in Lumix Photo Festival in Hannover, (Germany) with her reportage about female genital mutilation of two maasai girls.[8] Reportage was published in a Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat in 2014 and it provoked a lot of discussion.[9] UNICEF Finland was among those who criticised the publishing of the series in the media,[10] but the photographs received an honourable mention at the Photo of the Year competition organised by UNICEF Germany. Reportage was also published in Time article.[11]

Books

Awards

Personal life

Since March 2016, Koutaniemi has been dating the rock musician Sami Yaffa.[12] They announced their relationship in July 2016,[13] got engaged in July 2017 and married in September 2017 on Majorca, Spain.[14]

References

  1. ^ Ala-Risku, Päivi (9 October 2014). "Meeri Koutaniemi koulukiusaamisesta: "En voinut olla heittopussi"". HS.fi. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Meeri Koutaniemi".
  3. ^ Kallionpää, Katri (25 March 2013). "Sitkeä kuvaaja haluaa nähdä vaivaa". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  4. ^ a b Karhu, Lea (20 March 2013). "Meeri Koutaniemi voitti Vuoden lehtikuva -kilpailussa lähes kaiken". Helsingin Sanomat. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  5. ^ Wallenius, Sanna (13 April 2013). "Palkittu valokuvaaja Meeri Koutaniemi: "Koulukiusaus jätti syvät arvet"". Me Naiset (in Finnish). Retrieved 3 August 2019. ... hänessä on pisara romanilaisverta.
  6. ^ Tainola, Rita (17 May 2018). "Meeri Koutaniemi teki DNA-testin ja yllättyi tuloksista – "Todella mielenkiintoista"". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 3 August 2019. ... Koutaniemi päätti äskettäin tehdä itselleen DNA-testin. ... Minulla on keskiaasialaista verta sekä myös eskimoverta.
  7. ^ "Meeri Koutaniemi on taas Vuoden lehtikuvaaja – parhaan lehtikuvan otti HS:n Heidi Piiroinen". 7 March 2014.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2018.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. ^ "Valokuva: Valokuvaaja Meeri Koutaniemi palkittiin taas". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 4 September 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  10. ^ "UNICEF: Hänet silvottiin suomalaisten lukijoiden edessä sunnuntaina". unicef.typepad.com. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
  11. ^ "Saksan Unicef palkitsi Meeri Koutaniemen ympärileikkauskuvat, jotka Suomen Unicef tuomitsi". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). 16 December 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  12. ^ "Sami Yaffa ja Meeri Koutaniemi Koillissanomissa: Rakkaus iski ensitapaamisella". Iltalehti. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  13. ^ Vehmas, Ilona (20 July 2016). "Sami Yaffa ja Meeri Koutaniemi Koillissanomissa: Rakkaus iski ensitapaamisella". Iltalehti. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  14. ^ "Meeri Koutaniemi ja Sami Yaffa naimisiin henkeäsalpaavissa maisemissa – upea morsian asteli vihille paljain jaloin". Retrieved 10 September 2017.
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