Kuti Kuti, the comic association looking to educate and inspire

Date
23 September 2016

Kuti Kuti is a Finnish contemporary comics association, sourcing and producing fascinating illustration. Helping them grow into “one of the most recognised Finnish comic phenomenons besides Moomins and the works of Tom of Finland.”

Beginning in 2006, Kuti Kuti “started with seven people,” Tommi Musturi editor of Kuti Kuti explains, “post graduates from the art schools around Finland that had all moved to Helsinki. For the first few years, it was merely a tight collective of friends.” Since then the association have produced a free printed publication of works based on their ethos of “helping artists in day to day life so they can focus on their actual work.”

Kuti Kuti consciously realised that comics are of a relatively niche interest, but have the capacity to be appreciated by all. This informed the decision for the publication to always be free: “We knew that our real books and releases were only sold in a few places, special book stores, galleries and so on. Basically, this limited our audience already, we could only reach three main cities in Finland and ‘normal’ people would never see our work. With Kuti we give it away, bringing this work to places we could never reach otherwise.”

Being a free publication is only possible due to the fantastic support of The Finnish Culture Ministry and advertising. However, if you want featured advertising within the publication, Kuti Kuti will design it for you, “we draw them by hand for the advertisers – that’s included in the price.”

For the most recent issue Afri Kuti focuses on African comics, “We’ve always been interested in African visuals and wondered about the comics available, we just couldn’t reach them.” Built upon the question “What are contemporary African comics and does such exist?”, the issue collates a varied collection of comics with help from artist Rui Tenreiro, Sean O’Toole and Christophe Haurie-Cassiau the ex-editor of Art South Africa.

With over ten years worth of publications its audience is growing daily. “I don’t know how this has worked but there are 20+ artists who have read Kuti since they were teenagers,” says Tommi. Kuti Kuti is a creative venture keen on educating and inspiring absolutely everyone, pick a copy when you can.

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Kuti Kuti: Afri-Kuti

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Kuti Kuti: Afri-Kuti

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Kuti Kuti: Afri-Kuti

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Kuti Kuti: Afri-Kuti

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Kuti Kuti: Afri-Kuti

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Kuti Kuti: Afri-Kuti

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Kuti Kuti: Afri-Kuti

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About the Author

Lucy Bourton

Lucy (she/her) is the senior editor at Insights, a research-driven department with It's Nice That. Get in contact with her for potential Insights collaborations or to discuss Insights' fortnightly column, POV. Lucy has been a part of the team at It's Nice That since 2016, first joining as a staff writer after graduating from Chelsea College of Art with a degree in Graphic Design Communication.

lb@itsnicethat.com

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