‘rot or decompose through the action of bacteria and fungi.’

Heikki Leis

 Heikki does mostly hyper realistic pen and pencil drawings and also sculpture. 
Since 2004 he is also an avid photographer and takes part in exhibitions. 
His biggest passion is analogue photography, he uses both mid- and large format cameras.
The project that took the longest time, the most effort and has also become the most famous is his series of molds called “Afterlife”. A book by the same name, consisting of photographs from the series was also published in 2017. 

Afterlife

‘ Molds belong to the kingdom Fungi. They’re kin to more friendly fungi like the yeast that leavens your pizza dough, and the mushrooms atop your pizza. This great kingdom of life spans the gap between microorganisms and macroorganisms (like us). In fact molds and other fungi are the closest relatives of animals; of people. We have a lot in common, including our love of pizza.  
 The earth already has all the carbon atoms it will ever have; they are the very stuff of life. Plants use their superpower, photosynthesis, to extract carbon from thin air using sunlight. They fashion that carbon into new molecules, like carbohydrates and proteins, that are the building blocks of the beets, the potatoes, the turnip, you and I, and all life. In the end, the special task of molds is to dismantle what once lived, and exhale that carbon back into the air again. To recycle life.
Recyclers don’t get much glory, but clearly there’s an underappreciated beauty here. Because of recyclers like molds, there is life after life.’