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Meeri Koutaniemi
September, 2017
Every year seven million children in developing countries become mothers.
It was for this reason that Plan International Finland – a leading NGO with a focus on girl’s rights in developing countries – invited photographer Meeri Koutaniemi to help raise awareness of this tragic reality.
Plan’s campaign concept, developed in close cooperation with hasan & partners marketing agency, was to have Koutaniemi photograph several pregnant Zambian girls modelling a fictional line of maternity clothes for children. To this end, Plan also invited leading fashion designer Paola Suhonen to create the outfits worn in Koutaniemi’s portraits. The highly successful campaign, while primarily aimed at Finnish donors, received worldwide attention for its boldness, creativity and shocking relevance.
Our Love&Money exhibition specifically highlights Koutaniemi’s deeply disturbing yet profoundly tender portraits that both support an exceptional fundraising campaign and also succeed independently as astounding works of photographic art.
Possibly unique in their power to radiate both a sense of hope and dignity, yet also gut-wrenching sadness and outrage, Koutaniemi’s images stand as a testament to the challenges we must learn to collectively face in the 21st Century.