Editorial

GUP & FRESH EYES at PARIS PHOTO 2023

GUP & FRESH EYES at PARIS PHOTO 2023

Paris Photo at the Grand Palais Ephémère

GUP is very pleased to be partnering with Paris Photo to present the new issue of GUP Magazine #72, and the latest edition of FRESH EYES books at the collective magazine booth! Come visit us to discover new and exciting work from the next generation of photographers.

Photo España 23

Photo España 23

By Erik Vroons

The annual festival Photo Espaňa (PHE) is happening again, with this year’s exhibition programme concentrating on a wide variety of aspects that have never been off-topic but surely deserve renewed attention: female practitioners, adjusting the ‘canon’ with forgotten or less exposed talents, and concerns about the social and ecological environment. Before anything, though, it is…

Julieta Averbuj: El juego de la madalena

Julieta Averbuj: El juego de la madalena

By Laura Chen

Named after a game invented by her father, Spanish photographer Julieta Averbuj (b. 1986, Barcelona) introduces her first publication ‘El juego de la madalena’ — a book, that very much like a game, presents itself as an interactive riddle with a myriad of outcomes that are determined by the viewer.

Robert LeBlanc: GLORYLAND

Robert LeBlanc: GLORYLAND

By Laura Chen

Los Angeles-based artist Robert LeBlanc is a self-taught photographer with an aptitude for capturing non-traditional communities. In his latest project GLORYLAND, he continues to explore his fascination for the strange and unusual. For more than five years, LeBlanc documented a uniquely American subculture: one of the few remaining Holiness serpent-handling churches of West Virginia.

Ruizhe Hong: So Close When You Look Away

Ruizhe Hong: So Close When You Look Away

By Laura Chen

If infatuation could talk, Chinese photographer Ruizhe Hong has rendered its speech visible in So Close When You Look Away — a series of soft, intimate and sensual images that feel like love letters delivered inside a heart-sealed envelope.

Introducing GUP n°72 / The Other Side Magazine 01

Introducing GUP n°72 / The Other Side Magazine 01

Out Now!

Individualized as each of us may be, don't we sometimes crave to be part of a larger whole? A collective that shares common characteristics, attitudes, and interests as those of our own? In this (post-)covid limbo, we felt the need to reflect on this idea of an imagined community across continents, woven together through empathy.

Shortlist Rabo Photographic Portrait Prize & Talent 2022: Laura Chen reflecting on her nominated series ‘Words From Dad’

Shortlist Rabo Photographic Portrait Prize & Talent 2022: Laura Chen reflecting on her nominated series ‘Words From Dad’

By Laura Chen

The Dutch National Portrait Gallery and Rabobank collaborate to award the broad tradition of Dutch portraiture in photography. For the twelfth edition of the Rabo Photographic Portrait Prize, the jury came to evaluate a total of nearly 900 entries, resulting in a shortlist having five photographers selected for the main prize and three emerging artists…

NIMAR AND “RENCONTRES DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE DE MARRAKECH”: PROJECTING THREE VISUAL ARTISTS RESIDING IN THE NETHERLANDS

NIMAR AND “RENCONTRES DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE DE MARRAKECH”: PROJECTING THREE VISUAL ARTISTS RESIDING IN THE NETHERLANDS

NIMAR (Dutch Institute in Rabat) invited Suzette Bousema, Marwan Bassiouni, and Ahmet Polat – all visual artists located in Holland – to participate in this year’s edition of ‘Les Rencontres de la Photographie’ in Marrakesh, Morocco. On Friday, October 21, a selection of their work was screened at the impressive ruins of El Badii, the…

Benjamin Hampson: Nobody Home

Benjamin Hampson: Nobody Home

By Laura Chen

British photographer Benjamin Hampson (b. 1988, North London) shares a poignant description of what it is like losing a person that is close to you in his self-published book ‘Nobody Home’, which documents the stages both during and after the passing of his father, who had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and Parkinson’s Disease.

The Royal College of Art – Photography Department Graduates of 2022

The Royal College of Art – Photography Department Graduates of 2022

Gabriela Gawęda

From 23 – 28th September 2022 the graduation show of students of the Royal College of Art in London, UK took place. RCA is one of the most well-known public research universities in the UK with its program devoted to arts & humanities, design, architecture, and communications. The university has a long list of graduates…

Clement Chapillon: Les Rochers Fauves

Clement Chapillon: Les Rochers Fauves

Gabriela Gawęda

Les Rochers Fauves is the title of a photography book by Clement Chapillon which can be literally translated into "wild rocks". The book is a collection of Chapillon’s multiple visits to the Greek island of Amorgos in the past 20 years. Belonging to the group of Cyclades, Amorgos is considered to have a “brutal beauty”…

Mateo Ruiz González: Chilluns’ Croon

Mateo Ruiz González: Chilluns’ Croon

By Linda Zhengová

Mateo Ruiz González (b. 1989, Columbia) is a photographer and researcher based in Bogota. He is also the co-founder of Antics Publication, a publishing house focusing on inclusivity and open photography community. His latest personal project Chilluns' Croon emerged thanks to a one-month residency facilitated by Eyes on Main Street, located in Wilson, North Carolina.…

Davide Degano Romanzo Meticcio

Davide Degano Romanzo Meticcio

By Gabriela Gawęda

Davide Degano is a photographer who investigates the changing cultural conditions in which he specifically traces the theme of the local. He uses photography to gain insight into the history of Italy, its traditions and collective memory which he juxtaposes with contemporary identity. Photography enables Degano access the diverse layers which create Italian national identity.…

Katerina Lymar: Call me a slut

Katerina Lymar: Call me a slut

By Gabriela Gawęda

She opens the viewers' eyes to things that we don’t want to or are too much in a hurry to notice. Meet Katerina Lymar, a Ukrainian photographer who with the maturity of a professional doesn’t shy away from representing topics of injustice that for some may be too difficult to process. With her camera, Lymar…

Lewis Khan: ABQ

Lewis Khan: ABQ

by Gabriela Gawęda

It is a fact that Albuquerque, abbreviated ABQ is the most populated city in the state of New Mexico. It is also a fact that its population reaches just above 2 million. Yet the character of the city does not let itself be defined that easily by a Google search result. In today’s portfolio review,…

Gian Marco Sanna: PARADISE

Gian Marco Sanna: PARADISE

By Gabriela Gawęda

Gian Marco Sanna (b. 1993, Italy) experiments in his photography with digital and analogue techniques. His work dives into the ecological and social consciousness where myths collide with reality. Sanna follows natural landscapes at the same time discovering human intervention in them. In his ongoing project PARADISE, he shows a dystopian version of the world…

PHE 22 – PHotoESPAÑA’s 25th Anniversary Edition

PHE 22 – PHotoESPAÑA’s 25th Anniversary Edition

Erik Vroons

The 25th edition of PHotoESPAÑA.(PHE), held between June 1 and August 28, can be covered in two ways: as an all-you-can-see buffet (visiting as many venues as you can possibly schedule) or rather by way of making a strategic selection from its extensive programme. For this anniversary edition, PHE has scheduled 120 exhibitions by 442…

Laurence Philomène: Puberty

Laurence Philomène: Puberty

Laurence Philomène: Puberty

From the personal website of Laurence Philomène, I found out that Puberty is an ongoing autobiographical project which follows the “process of caring for oneself as a non-binary transgender person.” Through a vibrant journey of four seasons of 2020, the book follows a visual narrative of mental and physical changes undergone by a body in the…

Shawn Bush: Between Gods and Animals

Shawn Bush: Between Gods and Animals

By Gabriela Gaweda

Growing up in Detroit influenced the photography of Shawn Bush (the USA) and the way he thinks about social, economic, and political elements of the American landscape. As a lens-based artist, Bush responds to the urban environment which surrounds an individual and the meaning behind it. His work investigates the mythologies which are present in…

Colin Delfosse: Fulu Act

Colin Delfosse: Fulu Act

By Laura Chen

Since the Berlin conference in 1884, Congo has been at the forefront of globalization. The advent of the country as the leading exporter of cobalt (a key ore in the construction of smartphones) is the latest example. In his series ‘Fulu Act’, Colin Delfosse (b. 1981, Belgium) set out to illuminate the ecological and social consequences…

Bieke Depoorter: Agata

Bieke Depoorter: Agata

By Linda Zhengová

In the past years, the concept of authorship became a widely contested topic within the field of photography. The notion of collaboration and who then takes credit for what became blurry. The same question and many more are the concern of Bieke Depoorter’s (b. 1986, Belgium) latest publication “Agata.” In October 2017, Depoorter met a…

Marie Tomanova: NEW YORK NEW YORK

Marie Tomanova: NEW YORK NEW YORK

By Linda Zhengová

After the success of her first book Young American (Paradigm Publishing 2019), Marie Tomanova (b. 1984, Czechia) now presents her second monograph NEW YORK NEW YORK published by Hatje Cantz. This time, her book can be considered as a fresh extension of Young American, reflecting on New York’s new generation through portraiture in the post-pandemic…

Elena Helfrecht & Teri Varhol: AUGURY

Elena Helfrecht & Teri Varhol: AUGURY

By Linda Zhengová

AUGURY is the title of a collaborative photobook created by two photographers – Elena Helfrecht (b. 1992, Germany) and Teri Varhol (b. 1986, Czechia). Inside, they combine their series ‘The Swallow’ and ‘The Cage’ which portray their individual journeys across Europe, transcending the realms of time and space, providing their escapist view of reality during…

Rebecca Bowring: Knowing Thunder Gives Away What Lightning Tries to Hide

Rebecca Bowring: Knowing Thunder Gives Away What Lightning Tries to Hide

by Linda Zhengová

Rebecca Bowring (b. 1985, Switzerland) is a Geneva-based visual artist whose work questions the paradox of time within the medium of photography alongside the materiality of imagery that we create throughout our life. She is a graduate of the Vevey school of photography and of the University of Art and Design (HEAD). Recently, she was…

Wanda Tuerlinckx: Androids

Wanda Tuerlinckx: Androids

By Laura Chen

In the work of Flemish photographer Wanda Tuerlinckx (b.1969, Belgium) the world of science and art collide, resulting in fascinating images that question today's technologically advanced society and the ever-evolving relationship between humans and machines. In her series ‘Androids’ she documents the continuously accelerating developments of the current robot revolution. 

Nadine Ijewere: Our Own Selves

Nadine Ijewere: Our Own Selves

By Linda Zhengová

Prestel Publishing has just released ‘Our Own Selves’ by Nadine Ijewere (b. 1992, the UK) – a gem that combines fashion with non-conventional beauty. This is the first monograph by the London-based photographer and features both fashion editorials for brands such as Dior, Hermes and Valentino alongside personal works shot in Jamaica and Nigeria. As…

Liv Liberg: Sister Sister

Liv Liberg: Sister Sister

By Erik Vroons

Liv Liberg (b. 1992) started photographing at the age of ten, and her four year younger sister Britt would become her muse. What started as child play developed into a serious passion and perhaps even some kind of an obsession for the siblings. They continued to interact in these intimate and playful settings for over…

Alessio Pellicoro: Abisso / Abyssus

Alessio Pellicoro: Abisso / Abyssus

By Antonino Barbaro

‘Abisso’ (‘Abyssus’) by Alessio Pellicoro (b. 1994, Italy) provides an unexpected rendering of the shoreline running through Salento – the hometown of Pellicoro, who is experienced in exploring the intimacy of urban landscapes and local traditions of Southern Italy.

Fulvio Ventura: Sagacity

Fulvio Ventura: Sagacity

By Laura Chen

Nearly 50 years after its original release, Italian photographer Fulvio Ventura’s (b. 1941, Turin) long-awaited book ‘Sagacity’ is finally seeing the light of day. Published by The Ice Plant, the monograph is the result of numerous meetings with the author before his death in 2020, and demonstrates Ventura’s expertise in uninterrupted observation.

Joakim Kocjancic: Europea

Joakim Kocjancic: Europea

By Linda Zhengová

Joakim Kocjancic (b. 1975, Italy) was born to a Swedish mother and Italian father while his ancestors came from Slovenia, resulting in him having a Slavic surname. Throughout the past years, he lived in many European countries, learned numerous languages, and initially married a Belgian woman. Consequently, he never really identified with just one nationality…

Cammie Toloui: 5 Dollard for 3 Minutes

Cammie Toloui: 5 Dollard for 3 Minutes

By Linda Zhengová

‘5 Dollars for 3 Minutes’ is one of the latest and perhaps one of the most daring releases by VOID. The artist, Cammie Toloui, known as a member of a feminist punk band Yeastie Girlz, has now compiled a book from a series of images from the 1990s showcasing her experience as a sex worker…

Weronika Gęsicka: Traces

Weronika Gęsicka: Traces

By Laura Chen

Fascinated by scientific and pseudoscientific theories, Weronika Gęsicka’s (b. 1984, Poland) projects explore mnemonics and various mechanisms concerning human memory and veracity. Fundamental to her practice is archival material, which she sources from the internet. In her series ‘Traces’, Gęsicka presents playful and lively photomontages created with American stock photographs from the 1950s and 60s.

Stephen Gill: A Retrospective

Stephen Gill: A Retrospective

By Laura Chen

Stephen Gill (b. 1971, Bristol) is a British conceptual image maker who mainly draws inspiration from his immediate surroundings and constantly pushes the limits of the photographic medium to catalyze a unique, visual language in which documentary coincides with chance, experimentation and intervention.

Jamie Hawkesworth: The British Isles

Jamie Hawkesworth: The British Isles

By Laura Chen

Jamie Hawkesworth’s (b. 1987, Suffolk) has become known for his depictions of all that appears simple and mundane — a subject matter that instigated a photographic project which took 13 years to complete: his most recently released work 'The British Isles'.

Antony Cairns: CTY

Antony Cairns: CTY

by Laura Chen

Antony Cairns (b. 1980) has been taking photographs since the age of 15 and continues finding himself mesmerized by the mysteries of the ever-evolving medium and ever-changing faces of metropolises. His ongoing project ‘CTY’ (an abbreviation of ‘city’) sees the expansion of his oeuvre and is a testimony of his devotion to his subject: urban…

Francesco Merlini: The Flood

Francesco Merlini: The Flood

By Linda Zhengová

Francesco Merlini (b.1986, Italy) is a Milan-based photographer who focuses on long-term documentary projects that merge the worlds of both photojournalism and the symbolic. Recently, together with VOID, he published a photobook ‘The Flood’, featuring images from Georgia’s capital – Tbilisi. Particularly, his project showcases the story and the impact of the city’s major flooding…

Kensuke Koike and Thomas Sauvin: No More, No Less

Kensuke Koike and Thomas Sauvin: No More, No Less

By Laura Chen

In 2015, artist and collector Thomas Sauvin acquired an exercise book, produced by an unknown photography student from Shanghai University in the early 1980s. During a studio visit from collage artist Kensuke Koike, the two agreed the material was the perfect playground for Koike’s boundless imagination. The result of the experiment is their first collaborative…

Juliana Gómez Quijano: Las Dos Hebras (The Two Strands)

Juliana Gómez Quijano: Las Dos Hebras (The Two Strands)

by Laura Chen

Colombian photographer Juliana Gómez Quijano’s (also known as Juno) interest lies in research and reflection on scientific knowledge. In her project ‘The Two Strands’ (‘Las Dos Hebras’), she builds a bridge between the world of science and her personal experiences by investigating the genetic and emotional bond that unites her with her twin sister. By…

Simon Lehner: The mind is a voice, the voice is blind

Simon Lehner: The mind is a voice, the voice is blind

by Laura Chen

Simon Lehner (b. 1996, Austria) gave shape to his ongoing series ‘The mind is a voice, the voice is blind’ in late 2019, a year before he was diagnosed with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD). In essence, the series studies the cognitive dialogue at play between memories and the conscious, and explores how we process,…

Mathias de Lattre: Mother’s Therapy

Mathias de Lattre: Mother’s Therapy

By Linda Zhengová

Paris-based artist Mathias de Lattre (b. 1990, France) developed a specific interest in natural psychedelics, in particular, hallucinogenic mushrooms. After more than four years of research and photography, ‘Mother’s Therapy’ brings together the artist’s work on psilocybin (a naturally occurring hallucinogen produced by a myriad of fungi), mycology and medicine – together they define an…

PHmuseum 2021 Mobile Photography Prize: GUP Selection

PHmuseum 2021 Mobile Photography Prize: GUP Selection

Erik Vroons

PHmuseum is a curated platform dedicated to contemporary photography. Its focus – to find innovative ways to display photography, engage, educate, and connect – is very much in line with ours and so we, the GUP editorial team, have joined forces with PHmuseum to shortlist 10 entries for their 2021 edition of the Mobile Photography …

Rick Schatzberg: The Boys

Rick Schatzberg: The Boys

By Laura Chen

In his latest photobook ‘The Boys’, published by powerHouse Books, Rick Schatzberg (b. 1954) delivers a journey from the 1970s to the present to tell a profoundly moving story of an ageing friendship. In this lively documentation of a shared history, he delves into themes of time, memory, place, identity, bonding and mortality.

Moyra Davey & Peter Hujar: The Shabbiness of Beauty

Moyra Davey & Peter Hujar: The Shabbiness of Beauty

By Linda Zhengová

On the initiative of Galerie Buchholz in Berlin, Canadian artist Moyra Davey (b.1958) was invited to curate the archive of the late American photographer Peter Hujar (b. 1934-1987). To correlate with her own practice, she categorized his work into clusters such as NYC, animals, water, and bodies while picking photographs that were rarely shown before.…

Lucile Boiron: Mise en Pièces

Lucile Boiron: Mise en Pièces

By Linda Zhengová

For her second monograph, French photographer Lucile Boiron (b.1990, France) combined self-portraits, still lifes and images taken during the process of cosmetic surgery. Inspired by the initial transformation of bodies through medical procedures – cutting, reworking and stitching – Boiron was compelled to turn the camera lens on herself when COVID-19 hit the world. During…

Jim Goldberg: FINGERPRINT

Jim Goldberg: FINGERPRINT

By Linda Zhengová

In 1995, Jim Goldberg (b. 1953, the USA) has published his seminal project ‘Raised by Wolves’ as a photobook where he explored the lives of a troubled youth living on the streets of California – a work spanning over ten years (1985-1995). Unveiling their realities filled with addiction, abuse and violence, Goldberg put into spotlight…

Anabela Pinto: Precious Things

Anabela Pinto: Precious Things

by Sophie Beerens

The cult of technology takes center stage in Anabela Pinto's photographic series Precious Things, as she explores mankind's precarious relationship with the devices that have come to dominate our social and domestic lives. Obsolete technologies of a bygone era collide with the strangely mechanical human protagonists of Pinto's photographs, all of whom are bathed in…

Carlota Guerrero: Tengo un dragón dentro del corazón

Carlota Guerrero: Tengo un dragón dentro del corazón

By Linda Zhengová

Spanish photographer Carlota Guerrero (b.1989) presents her first monograph ‘Tengo un dragón dentro del corazón’ (translated as ‘I Have a Dragon in my Heart’) containing her early works, latest projects and commercial assignments. In the world of art, fashion and social media the artist is well known for her unique mythical aesthetics and depictions of…

Tom Butler: Self Portraits

Tom Butler: Self Portraits

GUP Team

English photographer Tom Butler (b. 1979) contorts his body, holding elegant poses that show only the top of his head. “The work reads like a contemporary dance piece; Butler’s body casting shapes that confuse and intrigue — his bald head the small, ever-present reminder that the contortionist is indeed a person and not some kind…

Louie Palu: Distant Early Warning

Louie Palu: Distant Early Warning

by Sophie Beerens

Documentary photographer Louie Palu (b.1968, Canada) feels right at home in the perennial cold of the Arctic region. In a place where daily temperatures average minus 50 degrees Celsius, and one can go for days, if not weeks in near darkness, nature reveals its true, omnipotent power — and yet, the Arctic is warming up…

Polaroid Performative Action

Polaroid Performative Action

Erik Vroons

Born Alan Schaefer in the Bronx in the early 1940s, April Dawn Alison became herself by providing a place to play, a stage, as it were, for the persona trapped inside. But this might have been a rather lonely game: neither Alan’s family nor his neighbours knew about April until after (s)he – or they…

Igor Elukov: Book of Miracles

Igor Elukov: Book of Miracles

by Sophie Beerens

The photographs of Igor Elukov, collected under the title ‘Book of Miracles’, encapsulate a delicate balancing act between accident and calculation. One would be so willing to believe that each of these images is purely a culmination of fortuitous circumstances, yet every one of them is in fact an intricately crafted independent…

Mélanie Wenger: Sugar Moon

Mélanie Wenger: Sugar Moon

by Sophie Beerens

In one of the many striking images of documentary photographer Mélanie Wenger's project Sugar Moon, we see hunting outfitter and taxidermist Erik Grimland unloading the large, taxidermied bust of a zebra from his trailer in Amarillo, Texas — a trophy from his daughter Sydney's successful hunt in South Africa two years prior. Grimland and his…

A GARDEN REVISIONED: INGE MEIJER

A GARDEN REVISIONED: INGE MEIJER

George King

Dutch visual artist Inge Meijer has a knack for studying sites and tracing archives – excavating the memories of a chosen location with a rich range of research tools. During an artist’s residency in Gwangju, South Korea, Meijer delved into the past life of a soon-to-be-demolished building, unraveling a range of private histories that required…

Tomasz Liboska: Turn Round

Tomasz Liboska: Turn Round

By Linda Zhengová

In the past years, Tomasz Liboska (b. 1976, Poland) documented the Upper Silesian region in Poland, right on the border with the Czech Republic. The area is known for its industrial production, especially coal mining which became the main source of income for the locals and growth of the region already since the 18th century.…

Alfredo Bosco: Forgotten Guerrero

Alfredo Bosco: Forgotten Guerrero

By Linda Zhengová

In his reportage project ‘Forgotten Guerrero’, Milan-based photographer Alfredo Bosco (b. 1987, Italy) concentrates on the social and political climate of Guerrero, Mexico – a state, responsible for the largest production and export of heroin in the country. The state is ruled by criminal organizations and drug cartels who constantly fight for power over the…

PHotoESPAÑA 2021: A GUP Selection of Highlights

PHotoESPAÑA 2021: A GUP Selection of Highlights

Erik Vroons

Every year since 1988, the photography and visual art festival PHotoESPAŇA turns Madrid (and many other locations in Spain) into a kaleidoscopic hyper-museum filled with a wide variety of exhibitions – ranging from the most ‘traditional’ to the very contemporary. Both the range and the enduring character of PHE are an achievement, and this year’s…

Julia Fullerton-Batten: Looking out from Within

Julia Fullerton-Batten: Looking out from Within

By Linda Zhengová

The portraiture of Julia Fullerton-Batten (b.1970, Germany) is highlighted by us for its peculiar hyper-realism and cinematic aesthetics, characterized by surreal settings and dramatic lighting.

Mattia Balsamini: In Search of Appropriate Images

Mattia Balsamini: In Search of Appropriate Images

By Linda Zhengová

The exploration of oneself became an important aspect of COVID-19 related confinement. Our needs and desires became loud when taken away from us. By being forced to adjust and re-define our values and behaviour, a new space for previously unknown possibilities and perspectives opened up. This urge to turn the suspended time into something unique…

Mark Templeton: Ocean Front Property

Mark Templeton: Ocean Front Property

By Sophie Beerens

Ocean Front Property, an image and audio based work by sound artist and photographer Mark Templeton, is a meditation on our obsessive wanderlust —  as he dreams of distant shores from the landlocked province of Alberta, Canada. "I was in search of water and the effect its absence had on me," writes Templeton on the impetus…

Ryu Ika: The Second Seeing

Ryu Ika: The Second Seeing

By Linda Zhengová

Sometimes, we become so immersed in the cycle of life, that we forget to take a step back and question where we are actually going. This paradox of life is the theme of Ryu Ika’s first monograph ‘The Second Seeing’ (published by AKAAKA). Through her lens and exploration of places such as Inner Mongolia, Japan,…

Oğulcan Arslan: All The Rivers Flow In The Nuthouse

Oğulcan Arslan: All The Rivers Flow In The Nuthouse

by Sophie Beerens

Ogulcan Arslan’s ‘All The Rivers Flow in the Nuthouse’ reads as a heartfelt ode to a friend suffering from schizophrenia, but also as a sharp critique of the dehumanization suffered by adolescents placed under the so-called protection of state clinics in Turkey. Arslan's earnest photographs and writing depict the nuances of a forced seclusion, and…

Ci:CLO Bienal ’21 Fotografia do Porto: The Horizon is Moving Nearer

Ci:CLO Bienal ’21 Fotografia do Porto: The Horizon is Moving Nearer

Sophie Beerens

On the occasion of the Bienal ’21 Fotografia do Porto taking place from the 14th of May until the 27th of June, comes an exhibition that brings together the works of eight visual artists, each tackling a diverse array of topical issues facing the world today on both the local and global stage.

Diana Michener: Twenty-Eight Figure Studies

Diana Michener: Twenty-Eight Figure Studies

By Linda Zhengová

In her latest photobook ‘Twenty-eight Figure Studies’, published by Steidl, American artist Diana Michener (b.1940) photographed stills from pornographic films. Her way of working with the pornographic material subverts the hyperreality of the medium into something more ambiguous, contemplative – and by way of decontextualization, even strangely intimate.

Philippe Braquenier: Earth Not A Globe

Philippe Braquenier: Earth Not A Globe

By Sophie Beerens

Triggered by the strangely Orwellian phrase ‘alternative facts’— a flagrant redefining of demonstrable falsehoods as truth by authority figures, introduced in the early days of the Trump administration — photographer Philippe Braquenier (b. 1985, Belgium) immersed himself in a community espousing ideas in the vein of this new mode of ‘alternative truth’: the Flat Earth…

Dawn Kim: Whistling in the Dark

Dawn Kim: Whistling in the Dark

by Sophie Beerens

'Whistling in the Dark' by the artist Dawn Kim (b. 1989, South Korea) presents a growing collection of black and white photographs taken at various locations across the United States and abroad — bound not by the restraints of a contained and centralized subject, but instead hinting at a collective notion or feeling activated by…

Joanna Piotrowska: Stable Vices

Joanna Piotrowska: Stable Vices

By Linda Zhengová

Polish artist Joanna Piotrowska (b. 1985) explores systems of power and potential forms of resistance through the medium of photography. In her latest photobook ‘Stable Vices’ (published with MACK) she showcases three photographic series, together reflecting on the themes of protection, freedom and oppression. The distinct bodies of work are accompanied by essays written by…

Bebe Blanco Agterberg: A mal tiempo, buena cara

Bebe Blanco Agterberg: A mal tiempo, buena cara

By Sophie Beerens

Bebe Blanco Agterberg (b. 1995) explores the murky waters of historical truth through the lens of post-Francoist Spain, and the far-reaching implications of the Pact of Forgetting (Pacto del Olvido), a political decision brought about by both Leftist and Rightist parties in the wake of the void created by dictator Francisco Franco's passing in 1975. 

Yichen Zhou: Untitled & Daily Talk

Yichen Zhou: Untitled & Daily Talk

By Sophie Beerens

Every year, artist Yichen Zhou (b. 1986, China) returns to the expansive plains of her birthplace of Inner Mongolia. There, she creates surreal images — usually depicting herself, performing a series of acts ranging from the futile to the absurd, isolated in the center of the natural environment. The captivating simplicity of the photographs in…

Mattia Parodi & Piergiorgio Sorgetti: The Missing Eye

Mattia Parodi & Piergiorgio Sorgetti: The Missing Eye

By Linda Zhengová

Recent scientific studies and academic papers written by scholars such as Rosalind Krauss, George Bataille and Roger Caillois have revealed that people who are blind since birth are able to dream in images, providing space for different ways of interaction surpassing mere visuality. Such research has sparked a new collaboration between two Italian photographers Mattia…

Journal of Grievances Vol. 3: Fool’s Paradise

Journal of Grievances Vol. 3: Fool’s Paradise

By Linda Zhengová

The notion of collaboration seems to be defining the new era of pandemic-created works. Or perhaps to be more precise – collaboration on distance which results in unique artistic expressions and creative projects. One example of a one-of-a-kind artistic outcome can be considered the third volume of the ‘Journal of Grievances’ – Fool’s Paradise. This…

GRÉGOIRE PUJADE-LAURAINE: DOUBLE ORBIT

GRÉGOIRE PUJADE-LAURAINE: DOUBLE ORBIT

By Sophie Beerens

For Double Orbit, Gregoire Pujade-Lauraine (1981, France) photographed buildings, from almost aggressively angular structures to curiously anthropomorphic, swirling concrete shapes. The strange architectural idiosyncrasies documented hide in plain sight on the peripheries of expansive Western metropolitan cities, in secret passageways and side streets, or under the shadow of acclaimed landmarks and grand architectural wonders. 

Cansu Yıldıran: The Dispossessed

Cansu Yıldıran: The Dispossessed

By Sophie Beerens

Deep in a valley of the Kusmer Highlands, in the Black Sea region of Turkey, lies the village and ancestral homeland of photographer Cansu Yıldıran: Çaykara. Tradition decrees that the women of this village may not own the homes or the land that they live in — that right belongs to men, exclusively. Yıldıran photographed…

Ming Smith: An Aperture Monograph

Ming Smith: An Aperture Monograph

By Linda Zhengová

Ming Smith is the first African American female photographer whose work has been acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Her poetic gaze and experimental photography, reflective of the 20th century African American experience, has now been composed into a large retrospective monograph published by Aperture and Documentary Arts. Covering four…

Isabelle Wenzel – Body Movin’

Isabelle Wenzel – Body Movin’

GUP Team

“Let your backbone flip but don’t slip a disc, let your spine unwind, just take a risk.” This excerpt from the Beastie Boys song Body Movin’ very much applies to the artistic work of Isabelle Wenzel (b. 1982, Germany), whose career is defined by an extensive, and remarkably consistent, series of unusual, distorted poses in…

John Divola: Terminus

John Divola: Terminus

By Sophie Beerens

Some eighty miles from Los Angeles, California, at the southwestern edge of the arid and perpetually sunny Mojave Desert, lays the abandoned remnants of George Air Force Base. In 2015, this base gained a new occupant, in the form of renowned visual artist John Divola.

Joana Choumali: Ça Va Aller

Joana Choumali: Ça Va Aller

GUP team

Joana Choumali (b. 1974, Ivory Coast) expresses her artistic vision through photography and mixed media, touching on issues of identity and notions of beauty in relation to the body. Much of her practice focuses on Africa and derives from her own experience as a black African woman. The common denominator in Choumali’s work is a…

AL J THOMPSON: REMNANTS OF AN EXODUS

AL J THOMPSON: REMNANTS OF AN EXODUS

By Sophie Beerens

Al J Thompson's Remnants of an Exodus is a project that could never have arisen from the photographer-as-tourist, or the photographer-as-investigative journalist — that much can be felt within the powerful emotion that resonates in his images. The affection and earnest intimacy, evidenced for the people and places of his former home, can only necessarily…

Diana Markosian: Santa Barbara

Diana Markosian: Santa Barbara

By Linda Zhengová

Santa Barbara is the debut monograph by Diana Markosian (b.1989, Russia), recreating the story of her family’s journey from post- Soviet Russia to the U.S. in the 1990s. The project pulls together staged scenes, film stills, and family pictures in an innovative and compelling hybrid of personal and documentary storytelling. Weaving together re-enactments by actors,…

Interpretation Under Arrest: Visualisations of Detention

Interpretation Under Arrest: Visualisations of Detention

Erik Vroons

What is the status of the photograph in the context of imprisonment? Can a dossier of collected files and documents help us arrive at the essence of incarceration when questions of visibility, ethics and aesthetics intersect? Two recent publications touch on this dilemma in seemingly opposite ways. One is related to the bureaucracy of an…

Thomas Vandenberghe: In the time before us, there was a time before us

Thomas Vandenberghe: In the time before us, there was a time before us

By Sophie Beerens

The works of Belgian photographer Thomas Vandenberghe (1985) can come across as vaguely familiar – like a whistled melody one can't quite place. These images indeed arrive from a place of familiarity, being the mementos we may have once held in our hands, or kept safe and treasured in a box. Tattered and ripped, they…

Camillo Pasquarelli: Monsoons Never Cross the Mountains

Camillo Pasquarelli: Monsoons Never Cross the Mountains

By Linda Zhengová

In the past five years, Camillo Pasquarelli (b.1988, Italy) has been intensively working in the valley of Kashmir, a disputed region between India and Pakistan since 1947 and currently one of the most militarized zones on the planet.  ‘Monsoons Never Cross the Mountains’ is now published as a photobook that, alongside showcasing the portrayal of…

VINCENT DELBROUCK – CHAMPÚ

VINCENT DELBROUCK – CHAMPÚ

GUP team

Vincent Delbrouck (b. 1975, Belgium), also known as “V.D.”, spent of a lot of time in Havana as a photographer at the end of the 1990s. Then he left Cuba for years. When he returned, in 2014, he didn’t want to make a documentary about the people of Cuba, but to discover a new light…

Riccardo Dogana: Panopticon

Riccardo Dogana: Panopticon

By Sophie Beerens

Riccardo Dogana's latest work, Panopticon, is unified in its source: the inexhaustible database that is Youtube. Through a highly personal selection process, Dogana photographed fragments from uploaded videos, often exploiting motion blur, or the graininess reminiscent of surveillance-camera footage, to create images purposefully ambiguous in nature — appropriated images redesigned to confuse the viewer, and perhaps…

Yurian Quintanas Nobel: Dream Moons

Yurian Quintanas Nobel: Dream Moons

By Linda Zhengová

With ‘Dream Moons’, Yurian Quintanas Nobel gives a sneak-peak into the confines of his home. Not in a mundane but in a rather uncanny and surreal manner. Nobel already began his project back in 2015 when he started to explore the diverse possibilities of photography. In Nobel’s world, everything is strange and unstable.

Cecilia Sordi Campos: Tem Bigato Nessa Goiaba

Cecilia Sordi Campos: Tem Bigato Nessa Goiaba

GUP Team

In this project, Brazilian-born, Melbourne-based photographic artist Cecilia Sordi Campos (b. 1989) considers the parallels between her migration to Australia and her separation from her partner of ten years, and how this has impacted the life she’s living. Tem Bigato Nessa Goiaba is her artistic exploration of emotional transition after the end of a marriage,…

Diego Moreno: Malign Influences

Diego Moreno: Malign Influences

By Linda Zhengová

Diego Moreno’s (b. 1992, Mexico) imagery dives deep into his psyche to reflect on the heavy presence of the Catholic church in Mexico and his subsequent struggle of expressing his sexuality. In the project ‘Malign Influences’, he graphically intervenes his family archive through the use of coloured pencils, graphite, Chinese ink, markers or materials such…

Nicola Lo Calzo: Binidittu

Nicola Lo Calzo: Binidittu

By Sophie Beerens

San Benedetto, Benedict of Palermo, São Benedito, Binidittu — the man, born Benedetto Manasseri to enslaved Africans in Sicily in 1524, is known by many names, and as a unique figure of defiance and self-determination…  Binidittu, by Nicola Lo Calzo (b. 1979, Italy), is an intricate series that examines the condition of contemporary African migrants…

Silvia de Giorgi: Landscapes Pieces / Liquid Landscapes

Silvia de Giorgi: Landscapes Pieces / Liquid Landscapes

GUP team

By experimenting with alternative photographic processes as well as using drawing and on-site rock rubbings, Silvia De Giorgi (b. 1992, Italy) aims to reveal experiential knowledge of the natural environment that encompasses both its physical and social past. She is drawn to sites where the land is marked by traces of elemental forces (such as…

Prin Rodriguez – Los Hijos de Pariacaca

Prin Rodriguez – Los Hijos de Pariacaca

GUP Team

Pariacaca is the name of an “apu”, a divinity embodied in a mountain in the Peruvian Andes, located between Lima and Junin. The importance of Pariacaca in Andean spirituality predates the process of Spanish colonisation in the 16th century, when local religions and belief systems were wiped out. Stories and myths about Pariacaca were collected…

Gerardo Vizmanos: Searching for Utopia

Gerardo Vizmanos: Searching for Utopia

BY SOPHIE BEERENS

For photographer Gerardo Vizmanos, searching for utopia has never been about utopia itself – never a quest to make tangible a concept that so escapes physicality, nor one to define ideal states of being. Instead, Vizmanos utilizes the pursuit of utopia — that is, a study of the conscious act itself, which necessarily implicates a…

Erik Kessels & Thomas Sauvin: TALK SOON

Erik Kessels & Thomas Sauvin: TALK SOON

By Linda Zhengová

In times of all the COVID-19 related dread, we are also witnessing a new wave of creative initiatives. Particularly, a wave of collaborations between artists is emerging all over the world (such as stayathome.photography and Tomaso Clavarino & Patrizio Anastasi’s book, which we recently featured). In line with this trend, we hereby review a recently…

Path To ‘Glory’ – Justine Tjallinks On Her Work in Progress

Path To ‘Glory’ – Justine Tjallinks On Her Work in Progress

by Erik Vroons

Justine Tjallinks (b. 1984, The Netherlands) is a self-taught photographer who began her career as an art director, working with several leading fashion titles. Since 2014, she has applied her talents to the realm of art portrait photography, specialising in capturing the uniqueness of individuals and the diversity of human beauty. Even though a sense…

SÉBASTIEN CUVELIER: PARADISE CITY

SÉBASTIEN CUVELIER: PARADISE CITY

By Sophie Beerens

Sebastien Cuvelier’s Paradise City is a project born out of discovery — the discovery of a manuscript containing journal entries and photographs belonging to his late uncle, created during a trip to Persepolis, Iran, almost half a century ago. This leads Cuvelier into embarking on a quest of his own, re-tracing his uncle’s steps in…

Tomaso Clavarino & Patrizio Anastasi: Ballad of Woods and Wounds

Tomaso Clavarino & Patrizio Anastasi: Ballad of Woods and Wounds

By Linda Zhengová

‘Ballad of Woods and Wounds’, a collaborative effort by Tomaso Clavarino and Patrizio Anastasi, raises awareness of the situation around the Monferrato and Roero Woods that besiege the commune of Cocconato d’Asti in northern Italy – a region located just a few miles away from one of the most COVID-19 affected areas in the country.…

Ângela Berlinde: TRANSA: Ballads of the last sun

Ângela Berlinde: TRANSA: Ballads of the last sun

By Linda Zhengová

‘TRANSA: ballads of the last sun’, a book by Ângela Berlinde, reflects on the rapid destruction of the Amazonian rainforest. It contains, and is inspired by, numerous indigenous myths and tales, such as that of Iracema (“the virgin of the honey lips” in José de Alencar’s 1865 novel). In Alencar’s legend, Iracema is an indigenous…

Marta Bogdańska: SHIFTERS

Marta Bogdańska: SHIFTERS

by Patrycja Rozwora

For her ongoing project SHIFTERS, Marta Bogdańska (b. 19??) – a visual artist, photographer, filmmaker and cultural manager based in Poland – took on a challenge: presenting a history of the world, from the perspective of animals.

LEONARD SURYAJAYA: FALSE IDOL

LEONARD SURYAJAYA: FALSE IDOL

by Linda Zhengová

Leonard Suryajaya (b. 1988), a Chinese-Indonesian artist living in Chicago, had to face the American authorities and their cynical questioning regarding his immigration. His project False Idol reflects the process surrounding the course of his Green Card application – a rather estranging experience.

Archiwum Protestów Publicznych (Archive of Public Protests)

Archiwum Protestów Publicznych (Archive of Public Protests)

By Patrycja Rozwora

The Archive of Public Protests is a collection of photographs documenting visual traces of social activism and grassroots initiatives in Poland, opposing unjust political decisions and, most importantly, helping to underscore breaches of democratic norms and human rights – an unfortunate and dangerous sign of our times.

MISHA VALLEJO: SECRET SARAYAKU

MISHA VALLEJO: SECRET SARAYAKU

BY PATRYCJA ROZWORA

Misha Vallejo (b. 1985, Ecuador) has been working on a long-term project which takes a lyrical and kaleidoscopic framework and avoids ethnographic clichés to delicately document how traditional lifestyles and beliefs deal with modernity. In conversation with GUP Magazine, he elaborates on Sarayaku, a community of Kichwa people living on the banks of the Bobonaza…

JILLIAN FREYER – 42 WAYNE

JILLIAN FREYER – 42 WAYNE

GUP Team

Throughout her work, Jillian Freyer (b. 1989, US) uses female bodies to explore the experience of touch, and of emotional and physical endurance. Witnessed events and staged performances serve as a way to seek new intimacies between herself and her subjects. Physical sensations sourced from personal experience show up in subtle details that reveal exposed…