Photojournalist Meeri Koutaniemi likes to get as close as possible to her subjects – and their stories. "I always think that an individual is the window for larger phenomena," she says. "It's my strength as a photographer to go near people, and I want to stay in the moment. Sometimes I am so fascinated by the person that I forget to take a few steps back, and it blinds me from what else is happening."

Based in Helsinki, Finland, Meeri focuses on human rights issues, often through the lens of identity and activism. Across more than 70 countries, she has documented compelling stories of resilience and survival, including covering the humanitarian side of conflict and displacement, from the Syrian civil war to Myanmar's Rohingya crisis.

If she were to sum up her wide-ranging work, Meeri says she gravitates towards questions around identity, along with freedom of expression, speech and movement. "Freedom and methods for survival and resistance are very important to me," she says.

"I always say that was the crossroads of my career," she says. "I understood at that early age that I could work as a journalist if I pursued it persistently, practised and studied, and didn't give up because of my age or gender." Later that year, she spent three months in Central America. Empowered by publishing work from her trips, despite her lack of formal experience, she applied to study journalism at Finland's Tampere University.

Throughout her studies, Meeri continued to travel and photograph global human rights issues. "Every year, I took a period free to do my own projects," she says. "It was always part of my process." This included documenting house demolitions in the West Bank. "The scale of human rights violations in Palestine is huge and serious, and influenced my own will to dedicate more time in the future to human rights and social issues as a photojournalist. The stories really affected me personally, and strengthened my activism."

The traditional path of rising through the ranks, from small newspaper to national news, was never Meeri's dream. She wanted the freedom to pursue her passions, and when she graduated she became a full-time freelancer. Having upgraded to the Canon EOS 5D on its release, Meeri's burgeoning career almost ended before it started, when she had all her equipment stolen on a train in Serbia. Determined not to give up, she borrowed money from her parents to replace her gear and make a go of photojournalism.

Focusing on women's rights, Meeri soon started to work in conflict zones. "I have never been a war photographer, but I've always been interested in the echo of violence in conflict," she says. This has taken her to the border of Syria, documenting the first significant numbers of refugees crossing into Lebanon and Jordan, and to photograph the peace processes in Somalia and Colombia.

A turning point came when she got a commission to cover female genital mutilation (FGM) in Kenya, spending a week in a safe house. "The theme really got under my skin," says Meeri. "I spent the days thinking about what else I could do." She decided to dedicate herself to the subject, creating a visual encyclopaedia around FGM. Over the past 11 years she has regularly returned to this long-term personal project, which now encompasses 12 countries and has become the core of her work.

Having exhibited her images in 50 shows around the world, Meeri has also won recognition at home and abroad, including being awarded Photographer of the Year in Finland in 2012 and 2013, and winning the Visa D'or Daily Press Award at Visa pour l'Image the following year. She was selected to participate in the Joop Swart and VII Masterclasses in the same year, has directed documentaries for Finnish TV, and is a writer and journalist for an arts programme.

Looking to the future, she wants to finalise her work on FGM, and then continue exploring human stories, getting as personal as possible.

What is so rewarding about working on a long-term project, such as FGM?

"Working on long-term projects enables a much wider understanding of a topic. It also enables you to continue to document a person, community or phenomenon and witness how things are evolving. I have been focusing on local activists in my FGM project, so I'm interested in how things are pushed forward by local change-makers. Many have become friends, who I have visited many times. That's the most rewarding thing – seeing how activism is changing people one by one."

When do you choose to shoot in black and white versus colour?

"I fell in love with black and white, and learned to think in black and white when it comes to light, so, for me, black and white is much more natural. On the other hand, I live in a colour world. So when digital cameras came in, I also became fascinated with colour. For each project, the style selects itself. I make the decision by observing which style best suits the story. The first FGM work I did in Kenya, where I was documenting the actual ritual, I decided to do in black and white, so it would be easier to approach and also more peaceful. I didn't want to shock with colour."

What motivates you in your work and in covering the subjects that you choose?

"Understanding humanity, sharing stories of change and bringing awareness to as many countries and cultures as possible. Many human rights and violation issues are issues for everyone. If you are a man, for example, you should still care about and take action on women's rights. These things cannot be achieved alone, it requires an international movement in which people do their part. The same applies to the climate crisis. When will we collectively start defending the rights of nature as we defend human rights? That is our next common goal."

Where do you think the line between journalism and activism lies?

"I have always been an activist. I was an activist before I was a photographer, so it's a big part of my personality, motivation and inspiration. But professionally, you have to put aside your own beliefs, aims and remedies when you are working on a topic. It's extremely important to be responsible in photojournalism, and show many aspects, angles and perspectives. In activism, you have to get to the core of the issue. It's not only being for or against something, but trying to understand it. My activism is not to change minds in a predetermined direction, but to provoke discussion. I don't see a conflict between journalism and activism because they are aiming for the same purpose. Sharing stories and information forces us to ask critical questions and identify bridges through which we can create more acceptance, solidarity and understanding."

"As storytellers, we can move people through personal stories. I prefer to get as personal as possible – I'm not afraid of showing the scale of a human or their emotions. It's also our responsibility as journalists to bring out natural contradictions in our stories, to try not to summarise people into black and white characters, but to really show the greyscale and nuances – the small details that make all the difference."

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