Unbinding Histories
Mar 1, 2025 - Mar 30, 2025
In 2022, a group of artists from different parts of the world gathered in Arles for a residency program led by renowned photographer Antoine d’Agata. They used photography and archival materials to explore the complex concept of identity and address pressing social issues. The result is an exquisite blend of voices, colors, and points of view that challenges us to reflect on, empathize with, and relate to the intricate fabric of our shared human experience.
The artists in this exhibition come from a variety of countries and backgrounds, and their work celebrates multicultural identities and explores a wide range of socio-cultural and political issues, such as immigration, post-colonialism, gender, and freedom. The exhibition reflects on the difficulties of living between cultures and developing an identity within borders by inviting the viewers to reflect on their own experiences of isolation, loneliness, insecurity, and vulnerability, and encourages them to develop empathy and understanding across borders.
Cagla Demirbas
Cagla Demirbas (b. 1997, Ankara) got her BA from Istanbul Bilgi University’s Media and Communication (2020) and Film and Television (2022) departments as a salutatorian and a valedictorian, respectively.
Inspired by psychodynamic psychotherapy and the history of analog photography, her work acts like a “backup memory” that deals with serendipity and parapraxes found in the everyday rhythm of life.
Her work “Media Omitted” (2022), a series of cross-processed double exposures that show the “what-if”s of a relationship, was awarded second place in the “Best Series” category at the 2023 American Photographic Artists (APA) Awards, and was nominated for Best Landscape at 2022 Head On Photo Awards. The same work was exhibited at Pinakothek der Moderne, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art, Mall Galleries, Der Greif, Month of Photography Denver, Praxis Gallery, ZIRKA – Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Raum- und Kulturarbeit, LoosenArt, Mixer Arts and Swanfall Art. Her photography has been featured in various platforms like the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Photopia Cairo, The Holy Art, TRT World, and Contemporary Istanbul.
Phuong Hoang
Waking up to exploding bombs with cameras, lenses over my shoulders, and returning to refugee camps was my childhood vision of myself as a war correspondent. I am Phuong Hoang, a visual storyteller who grew up in the 1990s in Hanoi, Vietnam – a millennial capital that has become a center of politics and culture in Southeast Asia. My work is a creative use of photography and other multimedia approaches to tell stories that focus on the underprivileged. With various techniques such as interviews, research and data analysis from my 15 years of journalism experience, I explore my subjects conceptually and critically with a touch of humour. I believe in humanity, self-awareness and self-reflection.
Despoina Penny Demertzi
Despoina (Penny) Demertzi is a photographer, scholar and PhD researcher at Goldsmiths University of London, Department of Politics, London, UK. She
holds a BA in Archaeology and History, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and an MA in Fine Arts (Honors), MaHKU Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design, Utrecht, The Netherlands. She is a qualified teacher of Greek Language and Literature and (UK) QTS holder. Penny was awarded with Darmasiswa Scholarship to study Dance Art at ISI Yogyakarta, Indonesia. She collaborated with the Artists’ Initiative Ruang Rupa and she was the Artist in Residence at Ruang Me56 (Indonesian Contemporary Photography).
In Indonesia she produced the photographic studies entitled: ”Magiciens De La Terre?” and “Theatrical Scenario: Yogyakarta – Jakarta, Java, Indonesia: IN BETWEEN” (Artist in Residence Solo Exhibition) and was invited as guest lecturer at ISI Surakarta and UNTAR Jakarta.
Her photographic work has been selected for photography / photobook workshops by Anders Petersen, Christian Caujolle, Atelier SMEDSBY by JH Engstrom &Margot Wallard, Antoine d’Agata (VOID Greece), Stratos Kalafatis, FUAM (The Photography Application & Research Center – Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts, Istanbul, Turkey) visiting artist, FUAM Photobook Workshop#6 with Alex Bocchetto &Valentina Abenavoli – AKINA BOOKS. Penny was a selected participant photographer for the Studio Vortex by Antoine d’ Agata Residency Program, Arles, France (July 2022) where she produced and presented the photographic study: “Decolonizing The Text: The Language of Flowers, Georges Bataille; On Synaesthetic Garden – On Labor.”
Ronja Falkenbach
Intimacy, group affiliation, individuality and emerging relationships are themes that occupy Ronja Falkenbach in her documentary and portrait photography. Social networks such as Instagram, Tinder or Couchsurfing often form the basis for her research. In her series, she provides insights into techno culture in South Korea, Generation Z on dating apps in Berlin or a Jewish couchsurfer in the West Bank. Photography often serves as a performative tool to connect bodies and places. In this way, actions in front of and behind the camera intertwine and integrate the photographer into the action.
Jack Moyse
Jack Moyse is a photographer and artist from Swansea in South Wales. His practice focuses on subjects that he deems to be societal issues, using photography to express his views on topics such as the demonisation of migrants, ableism and mental health. Primarily, Moyse’s methodology closely resembles that of a documentary photographer however, his practice is intersected by various other artistic mediums such as performance art.
His longest project, What it’s like (being me) is an introspective documentary series that follows a young artist as he attempts to come to grips with the disability with which he was diagnosed at 17. His personal reflections form the basis of a narrative that encompasses some of the many issues people living with disabilities encounter including romance, parenthood and prejudice. Based primarily in photography, the project’s mixed media outcomes aim to create an immersive environment that provides insight for able bodied allies and those wanting to learn more about the lived disabled experience.
Moyse’s work has been exhibited across the UK including at Belfast Exposed and Mission gallery. He has spoken about the discrimination faced by people living with disabilities on the BBC, S4C and at conferences such as Healing through Photography.
Francesca Hummler
Francesca Hummler (b. 1997) is a visual artist and researcher working with photography. She received her B.A. in Media Arts and B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of California at San Diego in 2019. She received a Master’s in Photography with distinction from The Royal College of Art in London, England in 2022. Interested in issues regarding identity she draws from her experience as the daughter of German immigrants in the United States to explore the archive, familial intimacy, and generational trauma. Influenced by the concept of photo-therapy Francesca often utilizes self-portraiture to untangle her sense of self. Recently she has expanded her therapeutic practices to photograph others, offering them solace in working through their traumas. In 2021 she was selected as one of the laureates of the Carte Blanche Étudiants award for her series “Unsere Puppenstube” and displayed her work at Paris Photo. In 2022 she won the Young Talent Award from the Vonovia Award for Photography and had her work displayed in the Sprengel Museum. Francesca completed an artist residency with the National Justice Museum in Nottingham, U.K. in March 2023, where she considered human rights abuses caused by the American D.A.C.A. policy. Her work was collected by the Odunpazarı Modern Museum in Türkiye, featured in the Hamburg-based magazine Photonews, and she was interviewed by Deutschlandfunk Kultur. Recently in May 2023 she had her first solo in Erlangen, Germany.
Alejandra Arévalo
Alejandra Arévalo Martínez is photographer and graphic designer from Bogotá, Colombia graduated in Visual Communication at the Bauhaus Universtät-Weimar and currently cursing MA Photographic Studies at the Fachhochschule Dortmund. In her documentary practice she has been focused on territory, gender and identity topics, which have allowed her to expand her vision of the current society.
Verónica Losantos
Mostly based on her personal experiences, Verónica Losantos focuses her work on the mechanisms of past processing and memory, and about the relationship between photographic and psychological processes. In addition to the merging of documentary and conceptual photography, the diverse and experimental use of photographic material is also important to her. As a result, various visual styles and technical elements are often combined in the presentation of her subjects.
Her work has been exhibited internationally and she has received several awards as the Talents 36 by C/O Berlin; the Young Art Prize La Rioja 2020, the Kunstpreis Fotografie Berlin Brandenburg Lotto 2016 and the Foro PHOTOESPAÑA – Comunidad de Madrid “Hacer” to name a few. She has been also finalist of the Kassel Photobook Dummy Award and the European Photography Award among others. In early 2020 she finished a Masters Degree in Photography & Design at the FH Bielefeld and is now living and working in Berlin.
Jesse Egner
Jesse Egner (he/they) is a queer artist and educator currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Often taking the form of playful and absurd portraiture of himself and other individuals, his work explores themes such as queerness, homonormativity, mental illness, and body neutrality. He received his BA from Millersville University of Pennsylvania in 2016 and his MFA from Parsons School of Design in 2020. His work has been exhibited and published globally and is included in the permanent collection at the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts. He is a 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Photography and has recently participated in residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute in Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bunnell Street Arts Center in Homer, Alaska; Studio Vortex in Arles, France; and Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, New York. Currently, he works as the studio manager for artist Mariette Pathy Allen in New York City.
Maike Bergold
My name is Maike and I am a German photographer in my mid-twenties. Photography for me is one of the best ways to express my core beliefs. During my studies I realized that I am mostly interested in topics concerning mental health and by extent pictures that evoke emotions and give people an opportunity to connect. But above all I’m trying to hold on to those ephemeral moments that make life worth living.
Works
