BETWEEN THESE FOLDED WALLS
Utopia at Fotografiska
Currently hosted by Fotografiska New York, photographic duo Cooper & Gorfer present Between These Folded Walls, Utopia, a body of work that pushes the boundaries of artistic photography and invites the notion of unconventional social thinking. A cornucopia of harmonizing shapes, colors, and dimensions, the project explores the deprivation of safety and home along with the ability to continue dreaming in the midst of such turmoil.
US-born Sarah Cooper and Austrian-born Nina Gorfer have been in joint collaboration since 2006, their work growing increasingly colorful with the conception of each new project. Between These Folded Walls, Utopia showcases richly detailed portraits and scenes, featuring young women whose lives have been rocked and impacted by the throes of forced migration. Examining the notion of what an imagined utopia might look like within the realm the new diaspora, Cooper & Gorfer frame their subjects within terrifically conglomerated sets, adorned in lavishly saturated attire.
Speaking on the young women in the photographs, Cooper & Gorfer noted, “These are adolescents on the cusp of adulthood who have experienced what it means to uproot their reality and sense of self. Young women who grew up with different cultural understandings of the world. They are women in different stages of independence and gender equality and who, because of that, are less rigidly defined, less prone to accept a readymade understanding of the world.”
The women, displaced and dispersed from their homelands, wear expressions of poignancy, dexterity, and sagacity. Entirely artistic and yet innately political, Between These Folded Walls, Utopia presses upon the dynamics of humanitarianism with the utilization of vivid yellows, pinks, greens, reds, and blues. A brilliant and vibrant dreamscape, the work combines the gripping reality of real-world issues with the fanciful elements of imaginings, reminiscent from a time of innocence.
The exhibition will be on view until March 28, 2021. For more information on the exhibition, visit here.
