N E W S L E T T E R

# 0 5  H E L L O

(a n d  b e l a t e d  H a p p y  N e w  Y e a r )

(see previous newsletters here)

t o p i c s  o f  t h i s  n e w s l e t t e r :

• Women Photograph Year in Pictures

• (Public) Housing in Milan

• Back to Finland — After 2½ Years

W O M E N  P H O T O G R A P H  2 0 2 1  Y I P

You may have already seen this through other channels but: also Women Photograph selected their 2021 Year in Pictures collection among the community member images; this year's selection was curated by Tanvi Mishra.

2021 was my first year as a Women Photograph member, and I was happy and honoured to have my image (above) included in the selection.

Another year end activity: For the 6th consecutive year Women Photograph also checked the ratio between female and male photographers in the Year in Pictures selections of several media outlets. And the result... is still a bit far from equality: the average female photographer percentage among 25 outlets was 25.8%.

Would you like to hire more women photographers but don't know where to start? Contact Women Photograph team—they're happy to help!

(PS. The Women Photograph 2021 YIP annual selection is also available in printed version, and those interested can order it here, and the previous editions are available too.)

M I L A N  H O U S I N G  S I T U A T I O N

Few years ago, I photographed over several months different situations related to housing issues in Milan. An absurd reality in an apparently "normal" welfare state city: on one side the empty dwelling units and on the other thousands of people in need of a safe and clean place to live. However, due to various reasons it for example takes ca. 2 years to get an empty public housing unit ready to be assigned—meanwhile people live, besides under stress, also in indecent and even dangerous conditions. After an eviction, the social services may suggest families to sleep in a car.

Now Milan city council apparently has finally started to try to "lighten up" and simplify the bureaucracy and—as comunicated a couple of weeks ago by the current councillor for housing matters Pierfrancesco Maran via his social media channels—to try to change the current laws around it.

2 ½  Y E A R  L O N G  P A N D E M I C  P A U S E

I hadn't been to Finland (the country I'm originally from) for 2.5 years; first there were different kind of restrictions in place (and rightly so), and then the vaccine cycle(s) needed to be completed for everyone (and on top of that of course work commitments and such). As I had anticipated—and warned my family members—I started to sob almost incontrollably as I stepped into the arrivals hall at the airport.

While it's certainly normal to experience cold weather and snow in Finland in winter, it was a bit abnormally cold and snowy considering that it was the beginning of December. But, as my brother said—and I'm sure most Finns agree—he chooses the -15°C (5°F) temperature with plenty of bright white, glimmering snow anytime over dark, grey and rainy weather.

So, I got the chance to enjoy some wintry scenes too (within the limits of a rather short daylight...), both in Helsinki, the capital, and in Kerava, a small town approximately 30km (18.6 miles) from Helsinki.

Let's be in touch soon! A presto! Ollaan pian yhteydessä!