Heidi Gabrielsson lives and works in Helsinki, Finland. She is a visual artist, photographer, graphic designer and solopreneur. She graduated as a Visual Artist (BA) from Tampere Polytechnic, School of Art and Media and as a Graphic Designer (BA) from Aalto University Helsinki. In her early twenties she studied media arts in KHM Cologne, Germany and Chinese culture in Shenyang Jianzhu University in China.
She fell in love with photography as a teenager and bought her first SLR camera at the age of 16. Some of her early, real-life photography experiences happened while travelling in Europe and Asia. That’s how she discovered the joy of street photography, the value of unexpected meetings with people and the meaning of a decisive moment with a camera.
Heidi has worked 15 years as a designer with clients and kept photography all along as a side practice, but life took a sudden turn in 2019. Personal experiences made her realize that it’s vital to follow one’s passion. She decided to focus more deeply on visual storytelling, experimental image making and conceptual portraiture through personal projects and photography-related assignments. She wants to push herself forward each day with concept, idea and technique.
Heidi’s work is influenced by the endless transformations we go through in life and the fragility and strength that coexist in one person. For her, personal work is a way to understand life, to contribute and to be hopeful. It’s her bridge to one kind of freedom, self-acceptance and imagination. She wants to explore new possibilities in visual storytelling, to be inspired and to share something thoughtful and invigorating through her work.
Personal, fine art and photography work at heidigabrielsson.com
Graphic design and client work at sorea.fi (will be online until summer 2022)
If you want to see how I build props and some behind the scenes images from photo shoots: