"LUMINOUS FRONTIERS"
Selected Works of the International Class Pablo Zuleta Zahr

Bruna Costa, Idil Morsallioglu, Taavi Rand, Léna Richez, Kazuma Tsuji, Anika Werk

Exhibition: 11 – 20 August 2023
Opening: Friday, 11 August, 7pm

"Luminous Frontiers" explores what territory means in both a physical and metaphorical sense, and addresses various aspects of human existence.

From depictions of oppressed and violated bodies to moments of ecstasy and lightness. The viewer is invited to reflect on intimate, psychological, physical, and political boundaries that lie beyond the individual's control – but also on moments when control is relinquished.

Thus, the duality of counter-experiences becomes a circle that closes itself. The interplay of light and dark is emphasized – a visual language inspired by the chiaroscuro technique in painting, which transmits pain through the use of contrast.

"Luminous Frontiers" highlights the delicate balance between ecstasy and struggle, love and loss, resilience and vulnerability. It also represents a way to explore the "in- between."

Bruna Costa presents the work fragments of a body, a cyanotype collage that "talks" about identity, our differences and the beauty of it.

Idil Morsallioglu used archival material to assemble images she imagines Karin Katharina Nolte took in Turkey in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The selected images suggest Karin's gaze was unconsciously drawn to repetitively photographing specific visual elements that highlighted the contrasts between intimate and public encounters and the shifting gender roles within the community she was part of in Turkey.

'Life, time, mortality, change, imperfections, evanescence' – with these topics, Taavi Rand aims to capture life's fleeting beauty in this realm.

Léna Richez presents "Unsilenced strength", a personal photographic series about female violence. Dark, abstract with a hint of light and color, she seeks to draw attention to these topics.

Kazuma Tsuji conveys his experiences from a year spent in Berlin through a contrast of color photographs taken in Japan and monochrome ones taken in Berlin. This juxtaposition symbolizes the anticipation and longing that arise from taking the first step beyond the shores of an secluded island nation, while simultaneously conveying a sense of unease, hesitation, and adversity.

Anika Werk shows in her series "la petite mort" paired photos which are dealing with death and love in relationships.