On Wednesday, 8 July at 6 pm, Hedi Jaansoo’s solo exhibition They are there (they are there) will open at AFFILIATE Gallery of WIELS, Brussels.
Through still lifes, glued-together images, photographing, printing and rephotographing, Jaansoo attends to silences, traces, the uncertainty of persistence, (in)visibility, looking and overlooking.
Jaansoo searches for a silence that makes space for the quiet speaker. And a silence that makes space for those who have been silenced. A silence in which one does not have to shout to be heard, nor shine to be seen. Yet if there is a need to shout, one can shout. And if you sparkle, then sparkle.
The exhibition presents a (photo) series produced this year, one of whose central motifs is a pair of tulips photographed in the artist’s courtyard last year. More precisely, the central motif — and source material — is a taped and glued sketch depicting these tulips, created during the working process of a previous exhibition*. In this way, a sketch for an earlier work has become the central motif of the present exhibition.
A characteristic feature of Jaansoo’s practice is her focus on what remains in the background or at the margins: the ephemeral, the more-or-less held together, and the traces left by working processes and surrounding spaces. Alongside what is depicted, the process of creating and mediating the photographic image itself is equally important — the ways in which framing and reframing make it possible to bring different layers of perception into view.
In 2023, Hedi Jaansoo undertook a six-month residency at WIELS, Brussels. The exhibition They are there (they are there) at AFFILIATE continues from that residency.
The residency was supported by the Estonian Ministry of Culture. From 2017 to 2023, WIELS collaborated with the Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art (CCA). Since 2024, the Estonian partner has been the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center (ECADC).
The exhibition will remain open until 25 July 2026.
AFFILIATE
Rue du Jardin des Olives 3
1000 Brussels
Thu—Sat 14—18
Free entrance
*Hedi Jaansoo & Juliana Lindenhofer She put the butterfly on the door and said spring has now arrived. Draakon Gallery, Tallinn, Estonia. 27.08—20.09.2025
Hedi Jaansoo (1989) is an Estonian artist and photographer based in Tallinn. She graduated from the Estonian Academy of Arts with an MA in Contemporary Art (2018) and a BA in Photography (2014) and studied at the Bergen Academy of Art and Design (2012–13). Her work attends to fragilities, weaknesses, tensions and beauties, among other – often small – things. Her works combine photography, flowers, non-functional jewellery, unfinished thoughts and uncertain decisions, (be)longing and acceptance. A recurring thread throughout her practice is a sustained attention to women, grandmothers, gentle acts of resistance and near-invisibility. In 2023, she was an artist-in-residence at WIELS, Brussels. She currently manages the Estonian Union of Photography Artists (FOKU) and FOKU Gallery.
The exhibition is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia and WIELS
Thanks to: Anu Vahtra and Lieven Lahaye, Artsmart, Estonian Centre for Contemporary Art, Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Foto Tallinn, Fredji Hayebin, Mari Volens, Mikk Heinsoo, Stuudio Stuudio
Additional information:
hedijaansoo.com
info@hedijaansoo.com
+37255944447