MAP6 & The Photographers’ Gallery are holding a photography social and a book launch for Finland: The Happiness Project on 21 July. The event is an opportunity to meet MAP6 and talk about working collaboratively and making books. Along with a short introductory talk, images from the project will be shown and books will be available to see and purchase.

At this critical time, with issues of global health and environmental impact at the forefront, MAP6’s Finland: The Happiness Project explores themes around the United Nation’s World Happiness Report, which has ranked Finland as the most content nation for four years running. The UN says it is not money alone that makes a country happy but six key factors: personal income, social support, life expectancy, freedom, generosity, and levels of corruption. Finland scores well on all of these but particularly so on generosity; the nation’s social safety net combined with personal freedom and a good work-life balance gives it the edge over other countries.

With this in mind, MAP6 visited Finland to try to understand why its people are so happy. The resulting nine projects with diverse viewpoints questions and presents ideas about how we can live healthier, happier and more positive lives. You can learn about these projects at the book launch, and discuss the topic with others during the social.

Finland: The Happiness Project – Book Launch & Photography Social, Thursday 21 July, 18.30–20. The Photographers’ Gallery Café, 16–18 Ramillies Street, W1F 7LW London. The event is free but space is limited, so please reserve your ticket here. Read more about the event here.

The book production of Finland: The Happiness Project was generously supported by the The Finnish Institute