Notes from the Pacific

Notes from the Pacific – Timo Ramu

Text and photography: Timo Ramu
Layout design: Viola Minerva Virtamo

Language: English

Father of four, Timo Ramu, packs up his family in the middle of the pandemic and sets off for Tahiti. The plan is to swap their everyday routine for a different rhythm – spending months on tiny tropical islands in the midst of the vast Pacific Ocean.

During their sojourn, Timo begins writing letters to no one in particular – Notes from the Pacific. His musings soon take the shape of a thinking-out-loud travel journal, where the bustling chaos of family life blends with deep dives into a reflective mind.

Beneath the surface, the journal is underscored by a surprise discovery: a DNA test reveals that Timo was conceived through donor-assisted fertility treatment. The unravelling of this long-kept secret brings dozens of siblings into his life and sparks an identity crisis. Alongside vivid landscapes, the story weaves moments of introspection with reflections on Polynesian views on family life and Western ideals. Set against a tropical backdrop, Timo begins to explore the many layers of what it means to be human, as he attempts to make sense of it all. 

Timo Ramu is a creative entrepreneur, writer and filmmaker who divides his time between Finland and Tokyo. Together with his artist wife Jopsu, he runs Musuta – an internationally awarded creative studio known especially for commercial filmmaking.

For years, the Ramu family has embraced a life on the move, from the warmth of Pacific lagoons to camping in the sleet in the Icelandic wilderness.