The Loveliest Girl in The World
The State Prize winning The Loveliest Girl in The World is cherished photography project, realized by photographer, producer and publisher Pasi Pauni FSC and arts and social educator Miina Savolainen with ten girls growing up in children`s home in Helsinki, Finland, over a ten-year period
The public exhibit photos are only a fraction of the entire huge project. Behind the 140 exhibit photos chosen by the girls there is a distance of over 200.000 kilometers driven by photographer Pasi Pauni FSC and 70.000 film negative shots, which were all given to the girls as developed photographs. They provide an opportunity to examine your own feelings, personality traits, inner world and the process of growing up - things that you cannot see about yourself through any other medium
The Loveliest Girl in the world photo book is the best-selling art photo book of all time in Finland with more than 25 000 copies sold. The exhibits in Finnish art museums have been seen by more than 100.000 visitors. The traveling exhibit has been seen on several countries across the world including USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Finland, Serbia, Italy
Madrid, Spain
“ I am both shaken and impressed by this unique project for better life, by its uplifting spirit, tremendous courage, unbiased originality, enduring resolve, and its creative ability to act differently and for the benefit of others.”
Esa Saarinen, philosopher
The Loveliest Girl in the world photo book Has been Awarded For The Most Beautiful book of the year prize. The Graphic art of the book is made by Pia Lång, The Graphic Design by Minna Luoma and The Colour Grading by Timo Luomanen
Frankfurt, Germany
Ottawa, Canada
“The 140 photos in The Loveliest Girl in The World depict not just the grandeur of Finnish wilderness and subjects fairy-tale scenarios. They also show the process of gaining trust and confidence. The photographs represent the appeal of a modern fairy-tale moral: that people can take real strength from their invented selves.”
Washington Post
New york & Washington DC
It is a touching archetypal coming-of-age story of an overlooked child becoming visible and gaining self-acceptance. In the project photos the girls got to see themselves as whole and valuable. Mythical Finnish nature emerges as the protector and comfort of the child that has been hurt in the fairy tale setting of the photos. The power of the photography is in its ability to mix fact and fiction. It can reveal things that in reality are still so hidden or fragile that they nearly do not exist yet. In this way the photo, instead of the documentary truth, arrives at the emotional reality: Every one is entitled to feel loved and appreciated.
Finland
Frankfurt, Germany
