Many of Emilia Ukkonen’s works are based on experimentation and Electricity (2022-) continues on the same path. The works that we see at Photo North’s foyer gallery take our thoughts away from the light pollution of the city landscapes and plunge them straight to distant galaxies among the stars.
The exhibition works have been made completely without a camera by running static electric current through the film negative. The bursts of electricity leave a mark on the light sensitive material and the negatives are scanned afterwards. Electricity, usually so invisible to the human eye, leaves different marks and patterns onto the material. Many of these patterns remind us of stars and galaxies from which the works get their names. One of the key questions of the exhibition is, can we see the entire universe in a single negative?
Ukkonen has started working on the photographic series while working at Bioart Society’s residency in Helsinki in the year 2022 and the series is ongoing. Ukkonen is fascinated by the aesthetics of the photographic series on view, as well as the unpredictability of the process. At times lighting flashes on the negatives, sometimes the negatives remain blank. One cannot fully control the image-making process – one of the key elements for Ukkonen’s enchantment for working with the medium.
Among experimental photographic works, Ukkonen has lately been working with video works about people and their spiritual beliefs. As a video artist Ukkonen is interested in the unnoticed and unspoken sides of life, which have been hidden from the public eye. Bringing invisible into the visible is also a big part of the exhibition.
Emilia Ukkonen
Electricity
23.11.2024–19.1.2025
Photo North –Nordic Photographic Centre, Foyer Gallery
