Taking self-portraits is like crossing a door, and arriving at a safe, new place1
Large-format photographs of young women* hang on the sea-colored stone wall. The wrinkles on the stones become fleshy, and contrasting with the dark color of the surroundings, the naked bodies appear to be shell-less mollusks cast ashore.
Tenderness and softness, strength and delicacy, independence of the creative act and the act as exposure, exposure and vulnerability are the themes of the exhibition Of Corse presented in the winter of 2023 at the Basel-based H. Geiger2. The title of the exhibition is a play on words referring, on the one hand, to the place where the photographs were taken (Corsica is French for Corse), from the other to the English adverb of course, assuming obviousness, naturalness. French corps is, in turn, the plural of the noun body. Let's see how all these meanings can be found in the unique arrangement of the Basel exhibition.
ACT 1
The exhibition is structured on the principle of slowly bringing the viewer from outside (the landscape) to inside (the house). Both of these places are the backdrop of the Corsica photos presented here.
On the banners fronting the first room were written the biographies of all nine artists* taking part in the project initiated by Chantal Convertini3. His goal was an open-air shoot where people who knew each other only from social media were to take photos of each other. Some of the resulting nudes are group portraits, while other photographs show individual figures or interactions between them.
The premise of the project was to show nudity as something obvious, devoid of shame. The process of photography itself was meant to be a space of safety for the authors* of the photos, struggling in various ways with the outside world - in their struggle with depression, difficult family relationships, non-obvious sexuality and non-binarity. The house in Corsica gave space to all these elements. The photographers' own and each other's nudity was not only beautiful, but also fun. Through the everydayness of photography, they gained a liberating distance from their own image.
The photographers were keen to create an atmosphere of safety during the taking of the photos, but also in their reception. The fabric banners slow the viewer down as he or she wanders inside the gallery, and thus protect the nudity of the portrayed. At the same time, through biographies, they allow one to get to know the exhibition's protagonists first as persons. In their lightweight structure, the banners are reminiscent of curtains blowing in the warm breeze in a Corsican home.
ACT 2
After passing through the first room, the viewer is led along a narrow corridor among nudes photographed mainly against the island's landscape, to finally reach a cozy room4. A room specially built for the exhibition with lamps, a sofa, and a wall unit emerges suddenly. The photos scattered on the furniture and hung on the walls suggest a private sphere. The viewer looking at the portraits and nudes in small frames for a moment forgets that he is still in the gallery, succumbs to the charm of the arranged space and quite unexpectedly becomes a guest in someone else's home. Watching the nudes and portraits, however, one does not have the impression of being a voyeur. In the intimacy of the exhibition, the distinction between nude and portrait is blurred. The nude ceases to be an exposure, it remains a mere representation.
ACT 3
Room on display Of Corse It is built at the end of the gallery. After viewing the photos presented there, the viewer begins the journey back towards the first room. Before he gets there, however, he walks further through the Corsican "house." First he arrives at an interior painted in green. Here, imitation shutters hang on the walls, dividing an area where successive photographs of naked women* are displayed. Breaking the long wall surface into fragments allows the photographs to be viewed in series and makes it easier to interact with individual works. The floor, laid especially for the exhibition, adds a residential feel to the interior.
This is not a theatrical imitation of the house, but rather to create an intimate atmosphere for the reception of the works. The faces and bodies of the nine artists, already seen in previous rooms in many different constellations, seem familiar. Viewers thus become co-participants (co-participants) in a week-long plein-air in Corsica. They begin to take part in the daily life of the artists*, whose nudity is only an element, not the center of attention.
ACT 4
Nude is a special kind of photography. Nudity can sometimes be embarrassing for the portrayed and for the viewer.
One photographer*, Shannon Tomasik, says she felt comfortable in her body, but was afraid of the reaction of family and friends at the sight of her bared body5. Thus, female artists* try to reverse the situation of potential appropriation in the gaze of the portraitist (photographer) and the viewer, a gaze associated with male dominance. By taking self-portraits and photographing each other, they de-sexualize the body. The fact that the artists* photographed themselves and each other also takes away the sense of vulnerability. The act of creation is a force that opposes the nude as a passive representation of nudity.
For one of the participants in the Corsican open air, Catia Simoes, making self-portraits is like crossing a door, and arriving at a safe, new place. Such a sense of security is provided in a special way by a section of the space completely isolated from the rest of the exhibition. Entering the dark green-painted cubicle has something magical about it, as if diving into the depths of the sea, where no light reaches and where silence reigns. Due to the small size of the room, viewers are forced to stay here alone. Although most of the works on display are indoor nudes, the atmosphere of the cubicle is a kind of after-image, an impression that remains after a long stay in the water, when in the evening, in bed, everything is still swaying and humming.
ACT 5
A peculiar kind of afterimage is the overlapping of space-time just after returning from a vacation, when we bring with us visual impressions and smells from faraway places and implant them for a moment in our own home. They linger there, putting us in a special, pleasant state of split-self, when we haven't quite left that exotic place yet, although our body is already in the one we know well.
Similarly, the exhibition space Of Corse was divided into overlapping layers. The walls dividing the gallery hall make it possible to view photographs placed at different distances, and thus to be in several spaces at the same time. The photographs meet from ever new viewing angles, overlap and create new layers of interpretation.
All views of the photo exhibition Daria Kolacka
1 Catia Simoes, exhibition catalog Of Course. Photographs, ed. Kulturstiftung Basel H.Geiger, p. 125. Selbstporträts zu machen fühlt sich an, als würde man durch eine Tür schreiten und an einen gemütlichen neuen Ort kommen
2 The Basel Hermann Geiger Cultural Foundation (Kulturstiftung Basel H. Geiger) was established in 2018 on the initiative of Swiss artist Sibylle Piermattei-Geiger (1930-2020). The foundation's goal is to create a place where art is accessible to all, so admission is free, as are guided tours and catalogs. Exhibition Of Corse: 8.12.2022-12.02.2023
3 The participating artists are Chantal Convertini, Lena Aires, Charlotte Grimm, Catia Simões, Dafni Planta, Shannon Tomasik, Felicitas Schwenzer. Mayara Scudeler, Monika Jia Rui Scherer. The last two define themselves as non-binary. That is why "*" appears in the female forms in the text.
4 Room built specifically for the exhibition Of Corse represents a reversal of the original function of the current Geiger Foundation, which was a micro-motor factory. The austere interior of the 500 m2 and relatively low-slung ceiling changes its character depending on the works shown here. The arrangement surprises every time, once with a floor of mirrors reflecting neon song titles in the case of the exhibition MUSIC - A Conversation Through Song Titles., at other times becoming a "statistical landscape" where viewers could walk around and touch the artificial grass (Carlo Borer Sleeping With The Gods).
5 Exhibition catalog, p. 129.