Darkness & Light: Contemporary Nordic Photography presents over 30 recent works by ten emerging and established photographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden whose practices demonstrate the breadth and strength of Nordic photography today: Thora Dolven Balke, Tonje Bøe Birkeland, JH Engström, Joakim Eskildsen, Ulla Jokisalo, Bára Kristinsdóttir, Tova Mozard, Nelli Palomäki, Katya Sander, and Pétur Thomsen.
Focusing on a diverse selection of recent photographic works, Darkness & Light illuminates the ways in which light—both measured and perceived—informs the practice of contemporary Nordic photographers. Tonje Bøe Birkeland takes on the role of fictional photographer Luelle Madgalon Lumiére and recreates an imaginary journey to the Orkney Islands. Tova Mozard stages a psychological drama, starring her mother, grandmother, and herself in conversation with a therapist on the stage of Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theatre.
And Joakim Eskildsen, in a series of works shot in New York, California, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Georgia, examines the growing crisis of American poverty.
Darkness & Light: Contemporary Nordic Photography was organized by leading figures in the world of Nordic photographic art: Ingrid Fischer Jonge, Director of Brandts Museum of Photographic Art; Jens Friis, Curator, Brandts Museum of Photographic Art, Denmark; Elina Heikka, Director of The Finnish Museum of Photography, Finland; María Karen Sigurðardóttir, Director of the Reykjavík Museum of Photography, Iceland; Ingrid Nilsson, Director of the Preus Museum, Norway; and Anna Tellgren, Ph.D., Curator of Photography at Moderna Museet, Sweden.