I follow the vertical bursts of midday light. The evening light slows—heavy and orange. The blueing night flees. The particles of light, having set off from our nearest star, define us. I am moved by their outrageous power, their incredible ability to shape other matter, their urge to give, their selfless love. ‘Heavy Light’ is an admiration of the endless buzzing of photons, a wonder at the convergence of different kinds of matter. It has been a waiting, rewarded.

Jesper Dolgov’s Heavy Light examines the relationship between light and matter, as well as the limits of photographic representation. The works on view at Hippolyte Korjaamo feature objects that absorb light—items that do not reflect it at all. As a result, they remain invisible to the camera, as if absent. Nevertheless, the material has retained all the light that has touched it: light reflected from bodies, grazed by foliage, or refracted through the surface of glass. The works are presented as gelatin silver and pigment prints. Some are intended to be held by the viewer, revealing within their frames a series of subtle notations, questions, and transitions.

Dolgov raises the question: what remains unexperienced when human perception relies solely on visible light? And what other forms of connection might be possible—what warmer modes of coexistence could we embrace?

For this project, Dolgov invited two colleagues, Jussi Ronkainen and Antti-Juhani Manninen, to contribute companion texts to the works, offering alternative perspectives. A single viewpoint is never complete. Empathy and community, patience and selfless trust are necessary for something new to be discovered.

Jesper Dolgov (b. 1987, Espoo) is a visual artist based in Turku, working primarily with analogue photography. The handcrafted nature of traditional analogue photography, the contemplative pace it allows, and the physical touch of light, serve as key inspirations in his practice. In recent years, Dolgov’s work has expanded toward a more spatial and conceptual direction—photography increasingly appears to him as a moving material, shaped in time. Dolgov’s works have been exhibited at venues including Turku Art Hall and B-Galleria, and as part of the award-winning immersive theatre production Huoneiden kirja (The Book of Rooms, 2021). He graduated as a visual artist from Turku Arts Academy in 2022 and will soon begin postgraduate studies at Aalto University.

The artist’s work has been supported by the Kone Foundation and the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike), Southwest Finland Regional Fund.

Jesper Dolgov
Heavy Light
15 August–18 October 2025
Hippolyte Korjaamo
(Töölönkatu 51 A-B, 00250 Helsinki)
Open according to the opening hours of Korjaamo
Korjaamo is closed: 15.-16.8., 22.8. and 28.8. for private events.

image: Jesper Dolgov, Heavy Light, 2025