Oona Loman delved into their family's hidden past and discovered the lives of sex workers in early 20th-century Helsinki, a bustling military hub brimming with Russian, German and Swedish soldiers and sailors at the turn of the century. While no definitive photograph of Oona’s great-grandmother has been found, records or her STD examinations are preserved in the Helsinki City Archives. A woman by the same name was portrayed in a 1907 photograph by Signe Brander, taken at the yard well of Pieni Roobertinkatu. The mystery, however, remains unsolved.

The National Archives of Finland hold police identification photographs classifying sex workers as "criminals". These albums reveal countless intriguing faces—individuals from different walks of life, spanning varying levels of wealth and poverty, genders, ages, nationalities, and body types. At times, history shows itself encompassing.

Oona's grandmother was raised in an orphanage, as her mother (who gave birth to seven children) had been sent to Kumpula Hospital, derisively nicknamed "Kuppala" (referencing syphilis), where sex workers endured painful treatments for venereal diseases. For instance, toxic mercury was used as a treatment before the advent of penicillin in the 1940s.

The old hospital, now known as Kumpula Manor, houses the Finnish Museum of Natural History's geological collections. 2024.