Jussi Ronkainen’s exhibition Images of the night presents a series of works at the Hehku space of Art Center Ahjo that explores the phase in which a photograph becomes visible, both through analog and digital processes.

The conceptual foundation of the works is based on digitally recording the initial stage of

the chemical spread that enables a latent image in a Polaroid photograph to become

visible. After being taken, a photograph exists in a latent, hidden state and requires some

form of processing to emerge into visibility. This process may be either digital or analog,

both involve a mediating substance—either in the form of an algorithm or a chemical

agent. The Polaroid enlargements in the series are produced using a flatbed scanner,

allowing the imperfections of digital technology to merge with the otherwise analog image. These imperfections introduce additional detail into the phase where the image emerges from darkness. The newly forming image seems to pose a question of its own existence to the present moment.

Jussi Ronkainen (b. 1988) is a Joensuu-based visual artist whose work is grounded in

photography and photographic thinking. He graduated as a visual artist from the Arts

Academy of Turku University of Applied Sciences in 2022. In his work, he explores the

processes of image formation as well as the concepts, practices, and frameworks associated with photography, using photographic methods.