I first came across Nelli’s work at Les Rencontres d’Arles 2010 as part of the reGeneration2 show. Following on from reGeneration the current round showcases eighty photographers, shortlisted from nominations by photography courses around the world.

Born in 1981 in Finland and having studied at Helsinki School, she has her own distinctive style that I was immediately drawn to at the show. When looking at so many works by different photographers it is hard to remember them all, but on seeing her work again at Guernsey Photography Festival I remembered it straight away and was pleased to see a larger selection.

Now with a solo show Else and Viola at Next Level Projects, London which runs until the 28thAugust, you can see her beautiful large scale black and white portraits. One of the great things about her work is that some of them could be mistaken for very old portraits, however some offer clues that help give it away. My favourite for this is Anni Maria at 24 with Donna, which features a young woman and a dog sat on the sofa. She is wearing an old style dress, but her lip piercing tells us that she was either a very rebellious woman for her time or that the image is not as old as it appears.

A nice surprise was seeing a couple of pieces that I had never seen before and with her finishing off a Photography MA at the LCC I look forward to seeing what she does next.

It’s really worth going to see and look out for the final instalment of Midnight Sun: Finnish Contemporary Photography at the same lovely, intimate space.

Some links for Nelli Palomäki:
http://www.nellipalomaki.com/
http://www.aperture.org/exposures/?p=9537– interview with reGeneration2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XE2zKVv6fs&;;feature=related – interview at Guernsey.

Jocelyn Allen - www.jocelynallen.co.uk