Jyrki Hirvensalo: Viimeisellä rannalla – On the Beach – Stoa 40!

In 2016–23, Jyrki Hirvensalo took photographs at the shores and wastelands of Hermanni, disappearing under the development of the city.

He was interested in traces of the activities of city residents who spent their time in the area in different ways. The area is primarily former seabed, which was reclaimed for industrial use, for example. Later, the area became a wasteland, which city residents have made use of as they wanted. Nature has reclaimed parts of the area, thus creating a new kind of urban nature.

On the other side of Vanhankaupunginlahti, a ten-minute metro ride from Helsinki railway station, near the city's geographical centre, is the summerhouse area of Kivinokka. There, summer residents have been allowed to build summer houses, a self-made 12-square-metre paradises, according to precise guidelines.

Jyrki Hirvensalo is a Helsinki-based photography artist who is primarily interested in traces of human activity in our environment.