Transcendent Country of the Mind

by Sari Soininen

Transcendent Country of the Mind is a project exploring my encounters with alternative dimensions of reality and perceptions of otherworldly signs around us. It tells the story of a world that lives at the back of our minds.

In my early twenties, I experimented with LSD regularly and excessively, and eventually experienced an extended psychotic episode, which had serious consequences on my own life, but also profoundly changed the way I perceive the world and reality itself. During this time, I abandoned all my worldly possessions; I confronted the demons of Hell and was shown the wonders of Heaven; I travelled through time and space; I peeked behind the curtain of this dimension and – even today, having fully recovered – my understanding of reality has changed forever.

These photographs represent this perspective and offer others similar glimpses to what I found behind the curtain. Making this project years after the psychosis, turned out to be extremely valuable for my mental health. When I started this project, I only wanted to share my way of perceiving the world, as I felt like I had gained a new way of seeing due to the psychosis. However, as the project continued I understood it was more than that: it was a way for me to let go of this traumatic yet eye-opening experience. Now that the project is finished, I feel free: The incident does not define me as a person anymore.

 

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Sari Soininen (b.1991) is a Finnish photographer based in Bristol, UK. Her colourful otherworldly photography draws from philosophical thoughts and personal mystical experiences. Her interest is in providing the viewer with alternative ways of seeing the world and reality around them. Sari holds an MA from UWE Bristol (2021), BA from Lahti Institute of Design (2014) and she carried out exchange studies in Edinburgh College of Art (2013). After completing her BA degree Sari began a career in graphic design, event photography, and animation. In 2019 she decided to pursue fine art photography and started her masters. Sari is an emerging artist with her latest work published in FT Weekend Magazine, Fisheye Magazine, British Journal of Photography, and Liberation Magazine. In 2021 her work was shown in various exhibitions and festivals in The United Kingdom, Finland, Italy, Denmark, Greece, and the Netherlands. She was nominated as PHMuseum’s Top 14 Graduates to Watch in 2021, and she is a winner of the BJP Fast Track Open Call 2021 and BJP 365 Edition. In 2022 Sari is getting her first book “Transcendent Country of the Mind”.

Website: https://www.sarisoininen.com/

Instagram: @sari_soininen/

 

Selection by Alejandra Martinez Moreno – Editor/Burn Magazine.