“There is nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns,” are the words of Afrofuturist author Octavia E. Butler (1947-2006). Now, the parable serves as inspiration for Galerie Gomis’ latest residency at Sheriff Gallery in Paris: an exhibition of photographs by David Ụzọchukwu (b. 1998). The Berlin-based, Innsbruck-born practitioner is known for images that depict Black figures within haunting natural landscapes. In his practice, he explores “notions of (be)longing and the post-human, visualising new relationships between othered bodies and environments.” This collection spans an array of backdrops: from charred forests to lush green fields and saffron deserts, and is as visually appealing as it is rich in meaning. At once intimate and apocalyptic, the images evoke climate change and its disproportionate impact on the Global South.
New Suns is curated by Ekow Eshun – the curator, writer and broadcaster described as a “cultural polymath” by The Guardian – who was behind the acclaimed In the Black Fantastic show at the Hayward Gallery in London (2022). It was a landmark exhibition and publication, in which Ụzọchukwu was featured, that collated visionary Black artists exploring myth, science fiction and Afrofuturism. This latest display taps into many of the same themes, presenting surreal works by Ụzọchukwu that reflect on the historical marginalisation of people of colour in narratives about the natural world – a place all too often depicted as a wilderness to be conquered by settlers and adventurers. As Ụzọchukwu told Aesthetica in a 2022 interview: “Europe only knows how to sustain itself through suppression and exploitation.”
Ụzọchukwu is a trailblazing talent, and Eshun is establishing him as one-to-watch. “Ụzọchukwu is a visionary photographer,” Eshun says. “He brings the speculative and the fantastic to life with thrilling veracity and immediacy. New Suns conjures exhilarating states of Black being, Black possibility, Black dreaming, that only an artist of David’s accomplishment could successfully realise.” Indeed, the Austrian-Nigerian artist has quickly amassed an impressive list of credentials: part of Antwaun Sargent’s landmark The New Black Vanguard, which travelled from the USA to London due to public demand, and shortlisted for the Prix Pictet – one of the most prestigious awards in the global photography calendar. Earlier in 2024, he contributed to Fotografiska Shanghai’s Marvellous Realism, a group show designed to “envisage contemporary African cultural identity as a state of ongoing possibility.” In New Suns, the photographer does just that, reimagining the relationship between Blackness and nature to deliver visions of the future.
Galerie Gomis presents New Suns at Sheriff Gallery, Paris | Until 11 January
Image credits:
1. David Uzochukwu, Ignite, (2019). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Gomis.
2. David Uzochukwu, Drowse, (2017). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Gomis.
3. David Uzochukwu, Charred, (2024). Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Gomis.
