Tiitu Takalo

Me, Mikko and Annikki

North Atlantic Books 2019, 264 pages, colour, perfect bound.
ISBN: 978-1-62317-360-9
Me, Mikko and Annikki is a graphic novel depiciting a wooden housing block in Tampere, Finland. The novel is an autobiographical love story and a renovations diary, but also a town’s journey from a poor little village into a significant industrial center. This town grows hand in hand with its factories; and a housing block is built into the workers’ district. That block will later be called Annikki. 
Mikko and Annikki describes the battle for protecting old buildings and the old housing culture and for the development of Annikki’s wooden housing block into a scene of spontaneous alternative culture. The book tells a story about daydreaming and about the risks of dreaming. It also shows how overwhelming it can be when these dreams start coming true.