Meeri Koutaniemi (born 1987) is a Finnish photographer and journalist. Koutaniemi is known for her reportages and portraits on issues concerning human rights, minorities and empowerment.

Biography

Koutaniemi was born in

Kuusamo Kuusamo ( sme, Guossán; smn, Kuáccám) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . T ...

. After comprehensive school, she moved from

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

to study theatre in upper secondary school. After living six months in Oulu she moved to

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, where she studied music and dance at The Sibelius Upper Secondary School. She has studied

photojournalism Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (such ...

at The University of Tampere. Since 2011, Koutaniemi has been travelling and working around the world, such as in Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America. Koutaniemi is a founder member of an Italian Photo Agency Echo and Finnish Collective 11. Koutaniemi is partly of Romani descent, and according to a DNA test she took in 2018, she also has

Central Asian Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former S ...

and

Eskimo Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Si ...

ancestry.

Acknowledgements and criticism

Koutaniemi has won several awards in Annual Press Photo Competition by Finnish Press Photographers’ Association. In 2012, she won the portrait of the year award. In 2013, Koutaniemi won six categories in Annual Press Photo Competition: photographer of the year, multimedia of the year, photo of the year, foreign reportage of the year, portrait of the year and people's choice. In 2014, she won in two categories: photographer of the year and foreign reportage of the year. In 2014, Koutaniemi won the Visa D'or Daily Press Award in Visa pour l’Image in

Perpignan Perpignan (, , ; ca, Perpinyà ; es, Perpiñán ; it, Perpignano ) is the prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales department in southern France, in the heart of the plain of Roussillon, at the foot of the Pyrenees a few kilometres from the ...

, France, and Freelens Award in Lumix Photo Festival in

Hannover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German States of Germany, state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germa ...

, (Germany) with her reportage about

female genital mutilation Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female genital cutting, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) and female circumcision, is the ritual cutting or removal of some or all of the external female genitalia. The practice is found ...

of two

maasai Maasai may refer to: * Maasai people *Maasai language * Maasai mythology * MAASAI (band) See also * Masai (disambiguation) * Massai Massai (also known as: Masai, Massey, Massi, Mah–sii, Massa, Wasse, Wassil or by the nickname "Big Foot" Mas ...

girls. Reportage was published in a Finnish newspaper

Helsingin Sanomat ''Helsingin Sanomat'', abbreviated ''HS'' and colloquially known as , is the largest subscription newspaper in Finland and the Nordic countries, owned by Sanoma. Except after certain holidays, it is published daily. Its name derives from that of ...

in 2014 and it provoked a lot of discussion. UNICEF Finland was among those who criticised the publishing of the series in the media, but the photographs received an honourable mention at the Photo of the Year competition organised by

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

Germany. Reportage was also published in

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

article.

Books

*2020 Vahvaksi rikotut, Siltala *2017 Sami Yaffan Maailma, LIKE *2017 Ilopangon naiset, LIKE *2016 Fintiaanien mailla, WSOY *2015 Sisu, PS-kustannus *2015 Riisuttu Suomi, Docendo *2013 Oasis, Musta Taide

Awards

*2017 The Maker of the Future, Culture Gala, Finland *2017 People's Choice, Photo Journalist of the Year, Finnish Press Photos, Finland *2015 2. Price, Best Photostory, Siena International Photo Awards, Italy *2015 Winner, PDN, The Marty Forscher Fellowship Professional Award, USA *2014 Honorable Mention / Pictures of the Year, UNICEF, Germany *2014 Shortlisted Winners, VIPA international Awards, Austria *2014 Winner, Visa D'or Daily Press Award, Visa pour l’Image, France *2014 Winner, FreeLens Award, Lumix Photo Festival, Germany *2014 Winner, Photographer of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2014 Winner, Foreign Reportage of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2013 Carina Appel Memorial Award, Finland *2013 Winner, Photographer of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2013 Winner, Multimedia of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2013 Winner, Photo of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2013 Winner, Foreign Reportage of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2013 Winner, Portrait of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2013 People's Choice, Portrait of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2012 Tim Hetherington Memorial Award, USA *2012 Winner, Portrait of the Year, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland *2012 Honor Mention, Foreign Reportage, Annual Press Photo Competition, Finland

Personal life

Since March 2016, Koutaniemi has been dating the rock musician Sami Yaffa. They announced their relationship in July 2016, got engaged in July 2017 and married in September 2017 on

Majorca, Spain Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koutaniemi, Meeri 1987 births Living people 21st-century women photographers Finnish photographers Finnish women photographers Finnish women journalists People from Kuusamo University of Tampere alumni Finnish people of Romani descent