The exhibition, consisting of portraits of men, depicts the male figure as a strong and delicate creature who reflects another human being. In the photographs, masculinity appears  as both powerful and delicately vulnerable. Presented in groups, the visually coherent images form a poetic whole – the narratives of which are brought to life through the subtle expressions and gestures of the models.

The main focus of Suddenly, Last Summer is on images photographed in Finland in during the summertime, in which athletic youngsters enjoy the season of light and joy. Most of the exhibition’s older photographs are on display for the first time. Uncharacteristically for Puha, no photo manipulation has been employed on the exhibited works. In this sense, Puha has returned to his artistic roots with direct photographic expression. Most of the photographs on display are also included in Puha’s photobook called Intimate Light, which will be published in August 2022.

For the exhibition, I have selected images from photographic material since 1996 up until the present-day. The photographs present men from different periods of my life in Finland, London and Paris. Some of the photograph’s subjects are close to me, some are acquaintances, and some are strangers. I find it interesting to parallel images from different years and see how they interact, Puha explains.

The artist’s work and the exhibition have been supported by the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland.

Tero Puha (1971) is a multidisciplinary visual artist, whose varied body of work includes photographic art exhibitions, image portfolios, photobooks, performances, short films, stage works and graphic art. He has handled the central theme of his work, the identity of the contemporary man, throughout his career in a cross-disciplinary, long-term, and consistent manner. In the domain of contemporary art, Puha is best known for his multidisciplinary artworks, consisting of image manipulations, graphic elements and performance. In recent years, he has moved increasingly towards working with moving image and performance art. Puha’s works are included in many significant public collections in Finland, including the National Gallery / The Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, the Finnish Museum of Photography, Helsinki Art Museum HAM, and Espoo Museum of Modern Art EMMA, as well as in museum collections in Denmark and Japan. In 2014, Puha was awarded the Finnish State Prize in Photographic Arts, and in 2019, he received the Konstiniekka cultural award from the municipality of Nurmijärvi.

Tero Puha
Suddenly, Last Summer

30 June –14 August 2022
Hippolyte Korjaamo (Töölönkatu 51 A-B, 00250 Helsinki)
Open according to the opening hours of Korjaamo