C/O Berlin presents the exhibition Tyler Mitchell - Wish This Was Real and Studio Rex - Jean-Marie Donat Collection from Jun 1 to Sep 5, 2024.
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Tyler Mitchell - Wish This Was Real
Tyler Mitchell - Wish This Was Real
American photographer Tyler Mitchell (b. 1995, USA) is driven by dreams of paradi- se against the backdrop of history. Since his rise to prominence in the world of fashion, Mitchell has propelled a visual narrative of beauty, style, utopia, and the landscape that expands visions of Black life. C/O Berlin presents Mitchell’s first solo exhibition in Germany, offering new perspectives on his long-standing themes of self-determination and the extraordinary radiance of the everyday, and showing how portraiture can be rooted in the past while evoking imagined futures.
The exhibition covers nearly ten years of Mitchell’s dynamic artistic practice in photography and video, demonstrating the influence of the “New Black Vanguard,” which American writer Antwaun Sargent describes as the proliferation of images by Black photographers who work between the genres of art and fashion. Considered in three thematic sections that follow different motifs, and featuring his newest works printed on fabric and mirrors, the exhibition encapsulates Mitchell’s diverse explorations of portraiture, nature, and social memory. “I hope there is an honest gaze to my photos,” Mitchell says.
New Horizons II, 2022 © Tyler Mitchell. Courtesy of the artist
Untitled (Topanga II), 2017 © Tyler Mitchell. Courtesy of the artist
The Root Of All That Lives, 2020 © Tyler Mitchell. Courtesy of the artist
Picnic, 2021 © Tyler Mitchell. Courtesy of the artist
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Tyler Mitchell - Wish This Was Real
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Tyler Mitchell - Wish This Was Real
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Tyler Mitchell - Wish This Was Real
Studio Rex - Jean-Marie Donat Collection
What stories are hidden in the archives of photo studios? What can studio photo- graphs reveal about the life paths, dreams, and hopes of the individuals portrayed? These are some of the questions raised by the history of Studio Rex.
The photo studio was located at the heart of Belsunce, Marseille’s working-class neighborhood. Assadour Keussayan arrived in the city at the age of 17 and founded the studio in 1933. He was a survivor of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman Turkey, while his wife Varsenik, hailed from Cyprus. Thanks to her help and that of his child- ren, Grégoire and Germaine, the studio was a family-run business which served as a meeting point for migrants from northern and western Africa as well as other countries. The studio closed in 2018. About ten years ago, French collector Jean- Marie Donat acquired a large part of the studio‘s extensive archive of tens of thousands of photographs and photo negatives taken there between 1966 and 1985. It was a trove preserving personal memories and historical events.
The photographs include official passport photos showing serious-looking individu- als in formal dress as well as portraits of elegantly clad figures presenting themsel- ves against backdrops with props such as flowers and ornamental screens.
Finally, there are hand-painted photomontages creating family portraits of people separated by the Mediterranean. Some photographs had been abandoned following an unexpected departure following a long-awaited work contract marking the next stage of a journey. Despite their anonymity as a group, the collection re- veals individuals and their unique stories, even though these can only be guessed. Most of the photographs bear neither names nor dates.
Unknown © Jean-Marie Donat Collection
Unknown © Grégoire Keussayan, Jean-Marie Donat Collection
Unknown, Photo montage © Grégoire Keussayan
Unknown © Grégoire Keussayan, Jean-Marie Donat Collection
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Studio Rex - Jean-Marie Donat Collection
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Studio Rex - Jean-Marie Donat Collection
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Studio Rex - Jean-Marie Donat Collection
Exhibition C/O Berlin - Studio Rex - Jean-Marie Donat Collection