“A great portrait is a psychological exploration, an artistic journey into a person’s heart and soul.” Phillip Prodger acknowledges the power of the camera to go beneath the surface in his book Face Time: A History of the Photographic Portrait. A snapshot offers us a visual representation of a person at a single point in time. However, an excellent shot does more. It shares something deeper about the subject whilst containing an air of mystery that keeps us aware of the fact that not everything can be seen. Today, we bring you a roundup of face-focused photography exhibitions from around the world. It’s a showcase of how artists have used the genre to explore representation and visibility. You’ll find shows from Emma Sarpaniemi and Zanele Muholi, who both use self-portraiture. With their piercing eyes gazing back at us, these are instances where artist and subject are one and the same – a nod to freeing power of self-representation.
Studio Rex: Jean-Marie Donat Collection | C/O Berlin | Until 4 September
What can studio photographs reveal about the life paths, dreams and hopes of the individuals portrayed? We can examine this question by delving through the archives of Studio Rex. In 1993, Assadour Keussayan, a survivor of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, founded the studio. Together with his wife Varsenik and children, Grégoire and Germaine, the business grew into a meeting point for migrants for over two decades. French collector Jean-Marie Donat acquired a large portion of their extensive archives from between 1996 and 1985, which included formal passport prints and elegant portraits. These are now on display at C/O Berlin in a show that offers viewers a contrast to the media‘s largely negative portrayal of migrants through a glimpse of how marginalized peoples have chosen to represent themselves.
Polly Braden: Leaving Ukraine | Foundling Museum | Until 1 September
On 24 February 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine displaced thousands, with women and children unexpectedly scattered across Europe. Amongst them are those in Polly Braden’s portraits. Through first-hand photographs, personal films and recorded conversations, her Leaving Ukraine series takes the visitor on a geographical and emotional journey, including the highs and lows of job interviews, first days at school, trips to buy wedding dresses and poignant family reunions, as well as gruelling night shifts – a far cry from the jobs they had at home. Here, we meet three schoolmates forging new lives, as well as a young graduate making a fresh start as a lawyer in London. There’s another whose baby was born shortly after her escape from Kherson to Warsaw, and two friends who fled to Moldova with help from a kickboxing club.
Emma Sarpaniemi: Honey Crunch | K1 Kämp Galleria | Until 6 October
In feminist art, the self-portrait has been a symbol of women’s ability to portray themselves outside the masculine gaze. Emma Sarpaniemi (b. 1993) portrays femininity as a space for playfulness and creativity. In one shot, she wears a hoop of rainbow coloured balls over her head and around her waist. Elsewhere, she wears a sunshine yellow dress and motions to push a door handle. However, in reality it is a 2D house that has been painted in red onto a white wall. In each shot, her direct gaze highlights her agency as an artist. Honey Crunch is a solo exhibition dominated by the photographer’s gaze, guiding the viewer throughout the exhibition. Sarpaniemi considers it important to recognise herself in every image, and the different characters portrayed in them offer a possibility to rebuild one’s self over and over again.
Zanele Muholi | Tate Modern | Until 26 January
Acclaimed visual activist Zanele Muholi presents their first solo exhibition of work in the UK with this self-titled exhibition at Tate Modern. There are more than 300 photographs on view spanning the breadth of the artist’s career. It’s a testament to an artistic practice devoted to resisting oppression. Muholi rose to prominence in the early 2000s whilst highlighting the stories of Black LGBTQIA+ people in their home country. Visitors will get to see these early works alongside their latest projects, including sculptures and the most recent additions to their ongoing Somnyama Ngonyama self-portrait series. In the latter project, Muholi turns the camera on themselves in a number of stylised monochromatic scenes exploring Eurocentricism, labour, racism and sexual politics. From behind the frame, Muholi’s eyes meet ours.
Catherine Opie: Genre/Gender/Portraiture | MASP | Until 27 October
Since the late 1980s, Catherine Opie (b. 1961) has been creating portraits of the LGBTQIA+ community. Her work traverses genres – from architecture to landscape to portraiture – and includes colour and monochromatic photography. MASP’s exhibition Genre/Gender/Portraiture presents 66 images taken by the artist between 1987 and 2022. The title refers to the different meanings of the Portuguese word “gênero” in English – “gender” and “genre” – two key aspects of the her practice. The show also includes 21 classic portrait’s from MASP’s European collection to reference Opie’s space in the rich dialogue of Western portraiture. By placing these pieces side by side, this show highlights how Opie appropriates art traditions, normally associated with elites, to give visibility and strength to her own community.
Image Credits:
- Emma Sarpaniemi: Mona Lisa in Circus, 2023.
- Unknown © Jean-Marie Donat Collection.
- Yulia, 16, in Byala, Bulgaria, the day before the family packed up to drive to Warsaw, June 2022 © Polly Braden
- Emma Sarpaniemi: Self-portrait as Cindy, 2022.
- Zanele Muholi Khumbulani II Room 2005 Hotel Riu Times Square New York 2022 Photograph, silver gelatin print on paper 458 × 683 mm Courtesy of the Artist and Yancey Richardson, New York © Zanele Muholi.
- Catherine Opie, JD from the series Girlfriends (Color), 2008.
