Books from Finland - A literary journal of writing from and about Finland.

Punamustavalkea – 1918 valokuvissa
[Red, black and white – 1918 in photographs]
Toim. [Ed.by] Kukkonen, Jukka & Heikka, Elina
Helsinki: Valokuvataiteen museo /Avain, 2008. 167 p., ill.
ISBN 978-952-5524-65-9
€ 29, paperback

The book examines the Finnish Civil War and the photographic heritage of the year 1918 in articles which explore the background to the conflict. There are photographs of the ‘Red’ and ‘White’ guards, the events of the war, the prison of war camps, and the everyday lives of civilians. The publication presents the work of the photographers and film technicians who supported different sides in the conflict, and discusses the fate of the photographic archives after the war. A previously unknown collection of German propaganda pictures is also included. Archival research has demonstrated that there are more photographs from the period than was originally supposed; after the war they were confiscated and used to trace Red Guard soldiers who had gone missing. The book was published in connection with an exhibition at the Finnish Museum of Photography.