Pola Weiss

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Pola Weiss
Pola Weiss as she appears in the "Long Hard Road Out of Hell" music video (at the left)
Background information

Gallery

Cristina Nunez

Saatchi Art

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  Source: Cristina NunezAfter years of frustration and introspection, during which I photographed myself, in 1994 I finally started photographing others. I met an American model named Pola and I became fascinated by her. She had been Trent Reznor's girlfriend and a friend of Marilyn Manson. She often wore fake Dracula teeth and wore black gothic clothing. She reminded me of my own youth. We became friends, and I took care of her. Years later she quit modeling because of a skin cancer, and then she became a forensic doctor in San Francisco. Then I completely lost trace of her.
  
  This image is part of the project "Body and Soul", in which I photographed people naked, lying or sitting on my bed. It was the first time I could really see others, and relate to them.
  

Instagram

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  Source: @christinanunez___
  Where is Pola? 1994.
  In those days I organized model castings, where I asked the girls and boys if they would pose for me naked. Most of them did, at least topless. One day Pola Weiss came, and I was immediately struck by her mysterious charisma and her vulnerability, which reminded me of myself in my teenage years. She had just arrived to Milan from Orange County in California and she had Polish, German and Cherokee blood, which I recognized in her high cheekbones. Her skin was incredibly white and her mood and style were dark, very dark. She had been the fiancée of Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails, and a friend of Marilyn Manson.
  I took one roll with my Rolleiflex and every shot was amazing. We then did a fashion test, fantastic. Everything she did, how she moved and talked, made me feel I was looking at someone who could become a big star.
  We became good friends. She hated Milan and the modeling business and most photographers and clients. She used to wear Dracula teeth and scare the shit out of them. Her agency was called Italy Models, and she called it Shitaly... Then she left, and after a couple of years she came back, too thin and too white. She had been diagnosed with skin cancer. She had gone through several operations and chemotherapy. She wore such a tight corset I could hold her waistline with both hands, so I became very concerned about her health, both physical and mental. This was self-destruction, something I knew too well.
  She got much better in the few months she spent in Milan, but her modeling career was not working, so she flew to San Francisco, where she began to study forensic medicine. She started working in a burial company preparing corpses for burial.
  Then I lost track of her and I haven’t been able to find her since. If someone knows her whereabouts, please let me know!! Pola made such an impact on me. I haven't been able to photograph any other model. So when she left, I stopped taking fashion pictures. #polaweiss #model #fashion #bodyandsoul #someonetolove

  ---

  yes I found her! she's fine, she built a new nice life. That really made me happy...
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  Source: @cristinanunez___
  September, 1994.
  After I shot the fashion test with Pola, I was so excited with the images that I showed them to Franca Sozzani of Italian VOGUE. She liked them very much and asked if she could keep two of the prints. Then I then tried with other models, but I got bored. They weren't half as interesting, extreme and vulnerable as Pola, so the images weren't good enough. In fact, I realized that I wasn't really interested in fashion, but on the human being in front of me, and I wanted that human being to be both very powerful and very vulnerable, to give herself 100%, to bite life with sheer passion and of course to be beautiful in a special, unusual way. So in the end my fashion images were portraits of Pola, that is, the result of our intense and mirroring relationship. #polaweiss #someonetolove #autobiography #fashion
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  Source: @cristinanunez___
  Pola Weiss's beautiful white legs... #whitelegs #polaweiss #coolfashion #fashioshoot #vivienwestwoodshoes
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  Source: @christinanunez___
  Pola doing her make up #coolfashion #diymakeup #favouritemodel #gothicbeauty #fashionshoot
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  Source: @christinanunez___
  #coolfashion #polaweiss# #favouritemodel #fashionshoot
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  Source: @christinanunez___
  #coolfashion #polaweiss #favouritemodel #1994 #fashionshoot
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  Source: @christinanunez___
  #polaweiss #favouritemodel #fashiondocumentary #coolfashion #whereispola #fashionshoot

Flickr

• 

  Source: Cristina Nunez
  Where is Pola? 1994.
  In those days I organized model castings, where I asked the girls and boys if they would pose for me naked. Most of them did, at least topless. One day Pola Weiss came, and I was immediately struck by her mysterious charisma and her vulnerability, which reminded me of myself in my teenage years. She had just arrived to Milan from Orange County in California and she had Polish, German and Cherokee blood, which I recognized in her high cheekbones. Her skin was incredibly white and her mood and style were dark, very dark. She had been the fiancée of Trent Reznor, of Nine Inch Nails, and a friend of Marilyn Manson.
  
  I took one roll with my Rolleiflex and every shot was amazing. We then did a fashion test, fantastic. Everything she did, how she moved and talked, made me feel I was looking at someone who could become a big star.
  
  We became good friends. She hated Milan and the modeling business and most photographers and clients. She used to wear Dracula teeth and scare the shit out of them. Her agency was called Italy Models, and she called it Shitaly... Then she left, and after a couple of years she came back, too thin and too white. She had been diagnosed with skin cancer. She had gone through several operations and chemotherapy. She wore such a tight corset I could hold her waistline with both hands, so I became very concerned about her health, both physical and mental. This was self-destruction, something I knew too well.
  
  She got much better in the few months she spent in Milan, but her modeling career was not working, so she flew to San Francisco, where she began to study forensic medicine. She started working in a burial company preparing corpses for burial.
  
  Then I lost track of her and I haven’t been able to find her since. If someone knows her whereabouts, please let me know!! Pola made such an impact on me. I haven't been able to photograph any other model. So when she left, I stopped taking fashion pictures.
  #polaweiss #model #fashion #bodyandsoul #someonetolove
• 

  Source: Cristina Nunez
  September, 1994.
  After I shot the fashion test with Pola, I was so excited with the images that I showed them to Franca Sozzani of Italian VOGUE. She liked them very much and asked if she could keep two of the prints. Then I then tried with other models, but I got bored. They weren't half as interesting, extreme and vulnerable as Pola, so the images weren't good enough. In fact, I realized that I wasn't really interested in fashion, but on the human being in front of me, and I wanted that human being to be both very powerful and very vulnerable, to give herself 100%, to bite life with sheer passion and of course to be beautiful in a special, unusual way. So in the end my fashion images were portraits of Pola, that is, the result of our intense and mirroring relationship. #polaweiss #someonetolove #autobiography #fashion

Colonel Kurtz

Twitter

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  Source: @colonelkurtz99
• 

  Source: @colonelkurtz99

See also

• Groupie
• "Long Hard Road Out of Hell"