Drawn back to the vast forests and lakes of her childhood, Konttinen found herself seeing them with new eyes. What had once seemed ordinary was now threatened by development and environmental change. The series captures this dual sense of awe and concern, combining a personal reconnection with a wider reflection on Finland’s shifting relationship to its natural world.

The work was later included in Puiden Kansa (The People of the Trees), a Finnish book and exhibition project in 1997. Printed by Konttinen using Polymer Gravure printing process gives the images a quiet, textured depth in keeping with the subject. The process, which combines photographic detail with the tonal richness of traditional intaglio printing, allows for subtle variations and a tactile quality well suited to the content of the images.

While distinct in tone from her British social documentary work, Juuret ja Siivet (Roots and Wings), as the project was later known, extends Konttinen’s ongoing commitment to place, memory and the fragile connections between people and their environments.

Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen is a Finnish-born documentary photographer who has chronicled working-class life in North East England since the late 1960s.

A co-founder of the Amber Film and Photography Collective, her acclaimed work, including Byker and Step by Step, offer significant portrayals of the lives of everyday people in the North East. In 2011 her photography was inscribed onto the UNESCO Memory of the World Register as of national significance to the UK due to her embedded practice and historically vital portrayals of local communities. In 2025 Konttinen was awarded an MBE in the 2025 New Year’s Honours list for her services to photography.