Emoplux

The artists/photographers of “Rethinking Photography” question the future of photography in a changing world. Beyond the static image, their work encourages us to rethink the role of art in a context where authenticity, materiality, and human experience become essential elements in the relationship between the artist, the work, and the viewer.

Since her Cut Outs series (2021), Jessica Backhaus has refined her visual language, exploring surfaces, shapes, and colors. Her latest series, compiled in her recent publication Plein Soleil, reflects this evolution.

Light and abstraction also play a major role in the distinctive creations of Marta Djourina. Interested in various luminous phenomena, she employs experimental analog photographic techniques, such as photograms, and creates three-dimensional photographic papers that occupy space like sculptures.

In his recent series De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things), Joan Fontcuberta presents black-and-white “photographs” generated by artificial intelligence based on descriptions of plants made by early explorers and evangelists of the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries.

In her series Algues Maudites, A Sea of Tears, Alice Pallot explores the proliferation of green algae on the Breton coast, drawing on a science-fiction-like imagination. Her work highlights the world’s vulnerability to climate change and anticipates the decline of biodiversity.

In a more self-referential approach, Letizia Romanini addresses themes of memory and transformation. Through two of her photographs, she pays tribute to her Italian heritage and expresses her fascination with the slow formation of stalactites and stalagmites. Her work embodies a sculptural approach to photography, which she highlights through the interplay of transparency and materiality.

The experimental photographic work of Jorma Puranen, his reflections on landscape—situated between photographic act and pictoriality—as well as his archival research, have influenced many young artists who share his interest in the materiality of photography.

Joost Vandebrug, a multidisciplinary artist, employs various printing techniques, including pigment transfers and gelatin silver prints, on handmade Washi paper, copper plates, and traditional baryta paper. His art reflects a desire to challenge traditional methods while experimenting with the temporality and materiality of photography in the post-photographic era.

Ultimately, all these artists share a pursuit of experimentation and innovation within the photographic medium, each in their own way exploring the boundaries of reality, perception, and materiality.