In Finland, driving around with no particular destination has a name and a tradition: cruising. And photographer Jussi Puikkonen spent years documenting it. The result is Cruise, a long-term project following young people in small Finnish cities and suburbs through their cruising ritual: moving slowly between shopping centres, petrol stations and parking lots, always along the same routes. The journey is not the point — what matters is the time spent inside that car, music turned up loud, quiet conversations, waiting, shared boredom.

The photographs focus on the inside and surroundings of the cars rather than on movement. The vehicles are often carefully modified, fitted with powerful sound systems, decorations and personal details that make them extensions of their owners’ identities. Puikkonen observes all of this with a quiet eye: silent conversations, laughter, moments of waiting, gazes out of the window. No action, and above all no speed — just the ordinary texture of growing up in places where spaces made for young people are scarce, so you make your own. Cruise was published as a photobook by Garret Publications in 2024.