Paola Suhonen – Poem portrait of Nina

Pro Finlandia award recipient Paola Suhonen (b. 1974) is a fashion designer, artist and filmmaker, known as the founder of Ivana Helsinki. Suhonen graduated as a cinematographer in 2012 and as a Master of Art in 2020.

Paola Suhonen shot her experimental documentary Poem Portrait of Nina during eight years, portraying Hollywood’s best-known pornstar, Nina Hartley. Having formed a friendship with Suhonen, Hartley offered reflections on her relationship with love, sex and life in general. In addition to the documentary Suhonen also shot a series of poetic still images. The works were presented at Paola Suhonen’s Love on the Road exhibition at Kunsthalle Helsinki 3.12.2016 - 8.1.2017.

The works that are now for sale at Bukowskis were included in the exhibition. The portraits are shot with a 16mm movie film (24 frames per second), which Suhonen describes as the most natural way of shooting portraits – the person being filmed forgets the presence of the camera and embraces the moment.