This May, exhibitions on display around the world harness photography and installation to interrogate pressing themes, from the importance of proper representation to the future of our natural spaces. They ask questions like: what happens after sea levels rise? What does the world look like 50 years from now? How do we preserve our cultures, traditions and communities in the face of massive uncertainty? They’re some of the most important issues facing our current moment. Each exhibition, hosted at the National Portrait Gallery, VB Photographic Center, ARKEN, Biennale of Sydney and Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, explores them with depth and nuance. They do not provide easy solutions, but ask the audiences to hold contradictions in their mind and consider how we move forward as a society.
National Portrait Gallery, London | Until 31 May
What does it mean to be seen? This question is at the heart of renowned photographer Catherine Opie’s first major UK exhibition. It features more than 80 portraits by the American artist, spanning 30 years. Opie’s practice revolves around community. This show includes breakthrough series Being and Having (1991), alongside depictions of Opie’s friends and loved ones inspired by painter Hans Holbein. There are also images of Barack Obama’s 2009 Inauguration and LGBTQIA+ rights protests, plus tender family moments and self-portraits. Ultimately, this is a testament to the power of visibility.
Tiina Itkonen: Anori – Northern Wind
VB Photographic Center, Kuopio | Until 3 May
Tiina Itkonen has been documenting Arctic regions, including the people and nature of Greenland, for nearly 30 years. Anori presents images from Itkonen’s career, during which she has travelled more than 1,500 kilometres along Greenland’s west coast by dog sled, fishing boats, sailing vessels, oil tankers, cargo ships and helicopters spending extended periods in villages getting to know local people. The pictures follow her subjects as they grow from young children into adults, whilst revealing the increasingly debilitating effects of climate change on their traditional livelihoods and surroundings.
Come Hell or High Water: Superflex
ARKEN, Ishøj | 7 May – 3 January
SUPERFLEX is the Danish artist collective behind the swings that transformed Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2017. Their work treads the line between art and functionality, taking shape as everything from bigodas facilities to public parks and hospital equipment. Now, they’re turning a museum into “an ark for all species.” It’s a fascinating response to the idea that, one day, due to rising sea levels, ARKEN will be underwater. The building is staged as a sunken ship, containing habitats for marine life that will eventually be placed on the real seabed. Blue light fills the galleries, and sandbags and barricades keep the water out.
Biennale of Sydney | Until 14 June
Since its first edition in 1973, the Biennale of Sydney has showcased the work of 2,400 artists from 130 countries, bringing together a huge variety of creative approaches and techniques. Its 25th edition is all about memory – “revisiting, reconstructing and reclaiming histories that have been erased or repressed.” Creatives from Australia and around the world reflect upon their own roots, whilst engaging with the history and communities of Sydney. The programme includes Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, Belinda Kazeem-Kamiñski, Bouchra Khalil, Dread Scott, Kapwani Kiwanga and Maritea Dæhlin.
Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg | 9 May – 27 September
This show responds to the precarious current moment: a world “at a tipping point” defined by destruction, tension and heightened emotion. Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg pulls together an array of works from its extensive collection, spanning from the 1970s to the present-day. Featured names include Ariel Reichman, who asks: “am I safe?” through a blue neon sign. There’s also photography by celebrated artist Jeff Wall, best known for staged, “near-documentary” tableaux. Plus, expect contributions from Jürgen Klauke, the Body Art pioneer whose work oscillates between attraction and repulsion.
Words: Emma Jacob
Image Credits:
1&5. Maritea Dæhlin, no title, 2024, analogue medium format colour photograph. Camera: Pablo Rojo. Courtesy of the artist.
2. Alistair Fate, 1994 © Catherine Opie, courtesy Regen Projects, Los Angeles; Lehmann Maupin, New York, Hong Kong, London, and Seoul; Thomas Dane Gallery.
3. Tiina Itkonen, Isortoq, 2017.
4. Vertical Migration, 2021. Commissioned by ART 2030 and TBA21–Academy, and developed in close collaboration with Kollision. Photo: Lance Gerber.
6. Ariel Reichman, I AM (NOT) SAFE, 2021, Interaktive Lichtskulptur mit LED, Acrylglas, Stahl, 75 x 300 x 10 cm, Inv. DLG 2022/02, Dauerleihgabe Christian Gerhartl.
