RITUAL FOR A RAINBOW – Sami Sänpäkkilä
Ritual for a Rainbow is a new photography series by Sami Sänpäkkilä that conjures contemporary magical realism from everyday life. This series is a mystery of invented rituals, inspired by events I experienced in 2022.
During summer evening walks near the Kaleva allotment gardens, I often passed a graffiti that read “Death” in large letters. Its straightforward message intrigued me, so I arranged a photoshoot at the site. I wasn’t sure if I could use someone else’s graffiti in my art. A few weeks later, while playing Shanghai rummy at a friend’s place, someone casually mentioned that they had obsessively been painting the word “Death” throughout the year. I pulled out my phone and showed them the picture I had taken. “That’s my graffiti!” they exclaimed, and gladly gave me their blessing to use it in my artwork.
On Christmas Eve, I walked through the quiet streets of my hometown, Ulvila, to visit its only second-hand bookstore. I had frequented this store since I was seven, but I hadn’t stepped inside for decades. Only one set of footprints led to the door. Forty years after my first visit, I was greeted by the familiar scent of old books, and behind the counter sat the same grey-haired man from whom I had once bought piles of books and comics. I explained that I was looking for five identical books to use as props in my photographs. We chatted for over half an hour, and as I finally left with my books, I promised to return next Christmas. When I got home and opened one of the books, the first word I saw was Rainbow.
While walking in a nearby forest with my mother, we stumbled upon a massive teepee made from dozens of fallen trees and branches. Attached to it was a wooden board with writing on it. The builders, a group of eight-year-old boys, had left a note asking visitors not to destroy their creation. As we continued our walk, we encountered a man standing beside his bicycle, drinking a beer. He didn’t greet us but instead asked for our opinion on artificial intelligence and robotics. I had no idea what to say. Later, I asked ChatGPT to come up with a connection between these two encounters. It replied: “The drunken man and the little boys are working together, using the teepee as their laboratory to develop new and innovative AI and robotics systems that improve their lives in the forest and protect the environment.”
Although love is the only real magic I have personally experienced, these mystical moments and encounters give me hope that something out there is guiding us along our paths—even if just playfully.
Translated with ChatGPT