JUUSO WESTERLUND
Photo of Juuso Westerlund by Aapo Huhta
(b. 1975, Helsinki)
Currently based: Helsinki
Intensiivistä, impulsiivista, infantiilia. Kylmää, kuumaa, kertovaa, kyseenalaistavaa, outoa, armotonta, synkkää, naivia, absurdia, Westerlundia. Kaasu pohjassa, täysillä päin. Monesti salamalla.
Juuso Westerlund on opiskellut valokuvausta Turun Taideakatemiassa ja Taikissa (nyk. Aalto yliopisto). Hän työskentee pääosin omien projektiensa parissa, mutta kuvaa myös toimeksiantoja koti- ja ulkomaisille aikakauslehdille kuten esimerkiksi Image, WSJ, FT Weekend magazine, Monocle, M le Monde ja The Wire. Westerlund harrastaa kuorolaulua ja on juoniorijalkapallojoukkueen huoltaja.
Westerlund on pohjoismaisen Moment Agency-kollektiivin jäsen. Westerlundia edustaa Institute Artist.
Like the heat when you enter a sauna, Juuso Westerlund’s images are overwhelmingly intense and weird, sometimes grimly cold, yet warm. It´s the rare kind of photography where you just have to see another one, and another one, and when you think you recognise something you are only thrown into another scene from a daily life situation that you most likely haven´t seen before, at least not photographed. Not like this. The photographs reveal a never ending curiosity and love of people, joy of the absurd and surreal. Never boring. And in the quest for defining oneself. And never letting go of that youthful lightness, carelessness and joy of getting oneself into weird, wonderful places. Into the rabbit hole, or that divy karaoke bar. Intensely looking, living – and as a byproduct, telling.
Juuso Westerlund mainly works on personal projects. He shoots for various magazines i.e. Image, WSJ, FT Weekend magazine, Monocle, M le Monde and The Wire. He also sings in a choir.
Westerlund is a member of the Moment Agency Collective. He is represented by the Institute Artist.
