Saana Wang, recipient of Espoo's one-year artist grant, studies the well-being of young people in digital environments

The City of Espoo Culture Committee awarded its one-year artist grant for 2025 to photographer Saana Wang in December 2024. The grant is awarded to one artist for one calendar year at a time. 

Saana Wang is an internationally active visual artist from Espoo, who works with photography, moving image and installations. She has higher education degrees in art from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and Aalto University in Helsinki. The Culture Committee praised Wang’s work plan for the grant year for its quality and timeliness. Her plan is based on the difficulties that digital environments create in the daily lives of today’s young people. 

Saana Wang started her grant work with the 8th graders at Viherlaakson koulu in early March 2025. In the weekly photo lab workshop, pupils created a photo diary and learned to read the meanings in images under Wang's guidance. Their work started on the micro level, from describing and observing the different details in nature, and moved on to self-portraits and the macro level in stages. 

For Saana Wang, it is important that young people realise that looking at or taking a picture does not have to be impulse-driven. Through art, you can increase your understanding of what brings well-being and joy to yourself. As a counterbalance to the daily viewing of digital devices, the photo lab challenged students to enter a world of active and conscious observation and discovery.

"Because the nature of photography is tied to the moment, it is a great tool for young people to explore and examine their own reality and the relationship between the digital and physical worlds. The two-dimensional image surface condenses and prompts questions about what the image is and what it could be," says Wang, describing the power of photography.

In addition to teaching, Wang studied how young people view, delimit and select views and perceive their environment.

"I hope that as a result of the photo lab, young people will perceive their own daily lives more deeply and the shared experiences will open up new perspectives for them to observe, make space for thinking and being present. Art, imagination and the sharing of experiences are the best way to create new ways of thinking," says Wang.

Wang has had a rewarding and positive experience of interacting with young people. Cooperation with Viherlaakson koulu and its art teachers has been excellent. The young people have also been excited about the encounter, active and experimental method.

In the autumn, Wang will continue to work at Viherlaakson koulu and start another workshop at Otaniemen lukio upper secondary school. Working with the upper secondary school students continues with the same theme, just with a different approach. She intends to create a touchable community artwork with the students. Wang finds it important to do experiential and communal work that empowers and brings people together. 

"Every artwork has a reality-generating dimension," says Wang, describing the importance of community art.

Wang sums up her near future: "The one-year artist grant is a great thing for me, and it allows me to focus on researching an important topic, interdisciplinary dialogue as well as teaching and making art. I think digitality enables a lot, but it should not be a defining and dominating part of young people's everyday lives. My topic is important, and I hope that new perspectives will open up in the future for an exhibition that awakens the senses to the experiential, learning from young people and from young people's perspectives."