You can discover peace anywhere and at any time. As long as you seek it.

Admiring the old Salla fells close to the border. Nowadays they’re on the side of Russia. They once belonged to us.

Times are changing. What else will be taken from us? To that, we don’t know the answer. We hope nothing. But we can’t know.

Trying to stay in the moment like they advise. But easy it is not.

The jets fly over. Once it was cool. But now I question are we already at war. Do I need to go to war now? What about other family members? Will my hometown be bombed once again?

This piece encapsulates my personal experience of anxiety. It was sparked by the Russian aggression towards Ukraine.

Finland's historical conflicts with Russia remain deeply etched in our collective memory.

One such war that resonates with both Finns and Ukrainians, given the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, is the Winter War. It occurred between 1939 and 1940. And it entailed a clash between the Soviet Union and Finland.

The roots of this conflict trace back to the infamous Shelling of Mainila. It was a calculated provocation orchestrated by the Soviet Union as a pretext for their aggression against Finland.

I was struggling a lot with anxiety before we got into NATO. I wanted to make a piece of art to help me with the anxiety. But also to spread how the war affects other countries than Ukraine as well. And to provide me with more peace and hope.

That's why my dad and I travelled near the Russian border to make this shot happen.

This was in February 2023. We weren't part of NATO then yet.

In the photograph, part of the landscape is Russian. It was once ours. We had to give them up as part of the Moscow Peace Treaty (1940) along with other areas.

When taking this shot, we were 14.2km away from the border.

Thankfully, today we still retain our independence. And hopefully, it will not be challenged again any time soon.