Signe Bee is a working group formed within Suomen Pimiötaiteilijat ry -Finnish Darkroom Association and consists of photography artist Jenni Haili, photographer and documentary film-maker Jaakko Kilpiäinen and darkroom artist Patrick Kuoppamäki.

Signe Bee group has studied the dry plate process and during the test process some of the glass negatives did not match the desired qualifications of high quality photography. While the results might have been unexpected, they also opened up a world of happenstance. The silver emulsion and the chemical processes produced unexpected surfaces, peculiar traces and superfluous dots which were like alchemical delusions produced by the light sensitive material. A mystical other level.

It has been liberating to momentarily break free from the photographic quality requirements and explore a world where the picture is distorted and cracked and does not bend to our will or wishes for a perfect outcome. The photographs were taken while wandering around our hometown Helsinki.

The mission of the Darkroom Association is to share and develop the know-how related to darkroom printing in Finland, to facilitate the networking of individuals and organisations in the photography field and to create international cooperation. Anyone interested in analog photography can join as a member.

The association actively organises courses of all levels in black and white printing and special techniques, such as collodion wet plate process and daguerreotype. It also produces various events and exhibitions, such as the Helsinki Darkroom Festival, which will be organised for the first time in the beginning of 2022 at the Museum of Finnish Photography.

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