Tuuli Matila

My research lies at the intersection of contemporary archaeology, visual studies, material culture studies, and critical heritage research. I investigate how material and visual remains shape collective memory, political identities, and social conflicts in the modern world. A central theme in my work is the role of emotions and affects in mediating relationships between people, places, objects, and contested pasts.

My doctoral research examined Finnish Second World War military photographs and their circulation in museums, media, and public culture. By combining visual analysis with heritage studies, the work explored how photographic images participate in the construction of war memory and historical narratives.

In my postdoctoral research, I have expanded this perspective to the archaeology of the Cold War, employing archaeological and material culture approaches to investigate everyday life, built environments, and heritage-making processes. I am interested in how political values, emotions, and power relations become embedded in material landscapes, infrastructures, and sites of memory.

In my current research, I examine twentieth-century logging camps as material manifestations of industrial capitalism, exploring how labour, resource extraction, and environmental transformation shaped everyday life in the forest.