koot & smoo

“Vain kunnioitettavat silmät ja korvat”
Suojelupoliisin määräyksestä

In the early 1970s, the Pohjois Suomen Sosiaalialan Osaamiskeskus Social Affairs & Health Committee was first tasked with immortalising northern Finland’s local folk-lore.

With no natural predator, artist Chico Roll 3rd (CR3) was the perfect choice to roam the hinterland, unfettered, capturing on paper tales of powerful creatures and their origins, such as Sakoo, from “when a fox crosses you, geriatrics will howl & other false promises” and the cautionary tale of Joon, “an abundance of snow and the parochial bladder spell trouble”.

A decade later, as part of a public health and culture initiative of the Finnish Commission for Aural Pleasure and the Sami Domicile Area Glaucoma Education Program Koot & Smoo were instrumental, and later vocal, in the braille-based documentation of these tales and characters. However, it wasn’t until the early 2020s that this trove of materials was made available outside of Finland. What survives, beyond a few damaged cassingles and CR3 scribbles, have been unfaithfully reconstrued and digitised.