Goodbye Playboy: An interview of finnish photographer and video artist iiu susiraja

interview by Eddie Chacon
photographs by Iiu Susiraja

Iiu Susiraja isn’t simply challenging the modus operandi of how we understand and perceive beauty. The photographer, born near Turku, Finland, is a private performance artist, a secret exhibitionist using her body as a versatile dress form to experiment with everyday props, like ladles, vases, plungers and other flotsam of the mundane. In one image, Susiraja lays in bed with a whole raw chicken resting on a silver platter, creating a sort of quotidian surreality. Ghebaly Gallery presented the artist’s first solo exhibition in Los Angeles, which included her strange autoerotic still lifes and video work. The following interview was published in our Fall Winter 2018 issue, featuring a selection of the artist’s diffident self-portraits.

EDDIE CHACON: What was it like growing up in Turku, Finland?

IIU SUSIRAJA: My family lived in the suburb of Hepokulta, located about two kilometers from the Turku city center, for the first fifteen years. It was nice to live there. There were a lot of other children, and nature, and there was a horse stud near our home. My hobby was horses. There was also a greyhound racecourse. Nearby there was also a swimming hall, which I liked to visit often too. I was good at swimming. I won best example of our boy’s class in swimming.  

CHACON: What were you like as a child?

SUSIRAJA: I was an ordinary child and my family was ordinary. We also had a cottage where we spent weekends in the summer. My family did not make foreign trips because we did not have enough money. I liked to walk alone in the forest, especially in the rain. I've never liked to be in big groups. I enjoy being alone or with one person, but I can be social. My family consists of my father, mother, big brother, and dog. I feel I was a controversial person as a child and also now as an adult. That is clearly visible in my art. In my art, I am confused by the fun and the serious at the same time. Someone now, as an adult, told me that I was a strange kid. That amazes me, because I was a really boring child, I think.

CHACON: Were you artistic growing up? 

SUSIRAJA: My dad once told me that other children bullied me and one boy told the bullies to leave me in peace because I was so artistic. That astonishes me because I did not think I was an artistic child. I did not even like to draw or paint because it was so laborious and time-consuming. I mostly liked using clay. I did photography for a couple years in school, and that is what I liked, but the class was supposed to end because developing film was so expensive. I went to free art clubs organized by a nearby parish house. For one year, I went to the School of Art every Tuesday after school for a couple of hours, but it also became too expensive. Art fascinated me and secretly I hoped to be an artist as an adult, but I didn't even know it was a profession. There were no artists in the suburbs and my parents were not artistic. We did not have a lot of paintings in our home. My family was ordinary. My brother used to play football and hockey. Later, he even played it professionally in Finland. The highlight of every weekend was the sauna and watching Finnish TV shows, and also the Americans series: Dynasty, Dallas, MacGyver and others, like most Finns did in those days. 

“The photograph is a moment created by the camera. A moment which is a surprise to me because I cannot completely control myself in that situation. I try to be empty and boring, but the camera is more cunning than me. “

CHACON: Were your parents supportive of your artistic interests?

SUSIRAJA: My parents did not particularly support my artistry in childhood, but they did not try to stop it. The fact my brother is interested in sport and I in art is a clear sign that our parents allowed us to be what we wanted to be. We visited with my mom in the club once a week, where things were made of clay, that was fun. Now my parents help a lot with my art. For example, they bring objects for photography. And my dad drives me many places. I’ve built many exhibitions with my dad. They are a great help.

CHACON: I think Tom Of Finland grew up very close to Turku. What do you think of his work, because he deals with body politics on a whole other spectrum? 

SUSIRAJA: Yes, he lived near Turku. His works are delicious, beautiful, and bold. His pictures have a significant role in our world. What power can be created from a pen, paper, and the human mind. It's like magic!

CHACON: Martin Parr was a guest professor at The Helsinki School. What do you think of his work, because he really changed the way people thought about photography, especially in its relationship to beauty? 

SUSIRAJA: His pictures are fantastically wonderful. With his pictures, you begin to wonder when a person is about to present and when they are not. You also begin to wonder if it is possible to get an image where the person is not aware of the camera. His pictures capture the Finnish character just the way it is—a person who is closed, yet open simultaneously. The same is the case of my images: I am empty but alive.

CHACON: What other artists inspire you?

SUSIRAJA: I've been impressed by many performance artists. They use really inventive objects. In fact, I'm too shy to do performance art. Performance art requires a person who does not want the power and control to be just in his/her hands. That is why it is difficult for me. Performance art is more unpredictable than photography. But photography is a good second, in that the power and outcome is not exactly what the artist wants the work to be. I must mention one picture, Heli Rekula’s Hyperventilation, which has played a major role in my life. I saw it in the KIASMA museum in Finland many years ago. I did not think of the technology that was in the photo, but I was impressed with the act. It was something wild, and at the same time, I understood that I could do something similar. As you might guess, I'm not only impressed with beautiful art. I like fierce, controversial, and even frightening things too. Among these, beauty is born for me. But at the same time, it is good to remember that too much is too much. Things can become fake. 

CHACON: Were you always the prime subject of your work?

SUSIRAJA: Yes. I am too shy to photograph others. I have also made still life pictures, but they are also a kind of self-portrait. I sometimes thought I would take photos of another human being according to images, but I think it would break something. Maybe it would break the tension between fun and seriousness. In my photos, I try to have an empty head. It is difficult to have an empty head if there is someone else in the situation. It would become a social interaction and it would not be good. My goal is to dull myself in the pictures. My starting point is not to give out messages or to create a character. I use objects, and how they can work with myself, as my starting point, but when the picture is ready, I see there is something more. Not just a dull object and dull me. The camera is brilliant because it gives something to an image, of which I have no power. The photograph is a moment created by the camera. A moment which is a surprise to me because I cannot completely control myself in that situation. I try to be empty and boring, but the camera is more cunning than me. Since creating a photo is so strange to explain, I do not want such a vague situation of another person. I could do badly with my camera to that person, accidentally. And I do not want to take that risk. I can bully myself with the camera, but I can not bully another person. Maybe one day I can try photographing another person—if I find a good working method.

CHACON: How did you arrive at using yourself as a subject in your work?

SUSIRAJA: I was afraid to be photographed so I wanted to catch my fear. I got my first digital camera at the post office in 2008, and when I went back home the first pictures I took were self-portraits. When I saw the pictures, it was a little bit of a shock to me. I did not know I was so fat. The camera can show things more strongly and more directly than the mirror. In the first pictures I did not show my face and I did not introduce much to my body. I saw in the pictures that my arms are really fat. In these pictures there was also a violent mood. They did not have humor. But I knew I had to continue photographing myself. I knew that by repeating something much, it would lose meaning.

CHACON: Is there an overall message that you are communicating through your photography?

SUSIRAJA: No, but it's good if my photos give power to the person that dares to photograph themselves. Because my photography does not have any overall message, they give freedom to the viewer. The messages of my art are a mystery to me as well. To solve it, I need other people. On the other hand, everything does not have to be resolved. Maybe solutions make things boring.

CHACON: Being the prime subject of your work, is it difficult to find new ways to express yourself? 

SUSIRAJA: Yes, that danger always exists. Particularly when a photo is taken at home, the space easily becomes over used. That's why I started to look for a solution to this problem. For example, photographing in hotels.

CHACON: A lot of artists have a fear of running out of ideas, does that ever occur to you? 

SUSIRAJA: There are times when it is difficult to create ideas. In the past, I usually had one object. Now, I have two. It makes the photo more absurd. That's what I like. 

CHACON: You recently had an exhibition in Los Angeles. Do you feel like your work speaks more or less to Americans vs. Europeans?

SUSIRAJA: I do not think so. Humor and seriousness are things that a person understands anywhere. It is good to put clichés in the garbage. Clichés are hurting us people. 

CHACON: Your current series is published here. Can you talk about some of the central themes or ideas behind it?

SUSIRAJA: The only theme was being in underpants. I've got some ugly lingerie. So, it did not make it easy.