SOININEN, Sari. Transcendent Country of the Mind.

(No place): The Eriskay Connection, [2022]. First edition. Quarto. Unpaginated. In her early twenties, the Finnish photographer Sari Soininen tried LSD for the first time and enjoyed a ‘heavenly experience’ of intense hallucinations and insights which led her to the powerful realisation of the interconnectedness of all things. Delighted and inspired by these acid induced visions, she then took LSD regularly for the next few months until it overwhelmed her, culminating in her receiving instructions from God, throwing away everything she owned, believing she would give birth to Jesus, and all manner of wild, satanic visions. Finally, she climbed into a car, her boyfriend blindfolded in the passenger seat, and she drove the pair of them into a ‘new world’. Believing they had arrived, she closed her eyes, and immediately crashed. After some time in hospital and several more months of psychosis, she recovered but remains profoundly affected by her experiences at the doors of perception. Responding creatively, Soininen has now made the photo-book ‘Transcendent Country of the Mind’. While her personal story is nightmarish, her photographs are much more subtle, evoking the altered reality of an acid trip with vivid colours, resonant images and disorientating encounters. Through a kaleidoscope of mesmerising landscapes the book tells a story about the world that lies just beyond our everyday experience. Turn on, tune in, drop out. A near fine copy in wrappers.