Exhibition Review: Leica Women Foto Project: The Bind of Humanity
Kat and I on her bed in the evening light (2020), © September Bottoms / Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska
Written by Megan May Walsh
Edited by Jana Massoud
Photo Edited by Lucia Luzzani
Bearing witness to humanity from the female standpoint; this is the task four photographers were given by the Leica Women Foto Project Award. The visual storytelling that unfolded from the perspectives of self-taught Oklahoma photographer September Bottoms, Lebanese-born American artist Rania Matar, documentary photographer Rosem Morton, and 2021 Leica Oskar Barnack winner Ana María Arévalo Gosen can be seen on the gallery walls of Fotografiska New York from March 9th to April 17th.
September Bottoms took her Leica SL2-S camera and Leica Vario Elmarit-SL 24-70mm lens to Oklahoma where she created a visual memoir of her family, battling sexual trauma, mental illness, and poverty. Bottoms bore witness to humanity by focusing her lens on her familial relationships: the complicated relationship with her mother, the bond of sisters, and the cycle of trauma that seems to permeate her family’s history.
Rhea (In the Mirror), Beirut, Lebanon (2021), © Rania Matar / Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska
Rania Matar, a Guggenheim 2018 fellow, explored the multiplicity of her identity as a woman in her Lebanese and American cultures by photographing female adolescence and womanhood at the crossroads of personal and collective identity. We can see this exploration and navigation of identity in Rhea (in the Mirror), Beirut Lebanon, with the two figures of the same woman. Inspired by the younger generations of women discovering themselves, Matar guided her camera towards the strength, resilience, and hope she saw in the Lebanese woman she photographed despite the destruction and hardships dominating their country.
“You can get through this”, Ian whispers as he holds me, Baltimore, MD, USA, (2018), © Rosem Morton / Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska
Rosem Morton casted a spotlight on the female perspective on humanity through her focus on the everyday intimacy of life amidst gender, health, and racial adversity. Morton’s photographs capture moments of friendship and solidarity amongst survivors and their allies. In “You can get through this,” Ian whispers as he holds me, Morton demonstrates the comfort of companionship and intimacy in the dark moments of life. Pairing her work with journal entries exploring life after sexual trauma, Morton encourages her viewers to have meaningful conversations about the more tragic events of life and support each other through the healing process.
© Ana María Arévalo Gosen (2018) / Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska
As an honorable mention, the exhibition also includes the work of Venezuelan photographer Ana María Arévalo Gosen. Dedicating her visual storytelling to advocating for women’s rights and social and environmental issues, Gosen photographs the conditions of women’s prisons and pre-trial detention centers in Latin America in her series Eternal Days. Constructing emotional and heartfelt storytelling from intimate narratives, research, and the faces of the suffering, Gosen gives voice to some of the most vulnerable women, allowing their perspective and voice to evoke change.
Mamma and Kat cuddling on our trip back from a residential facility in Utah (2020) © September Bottoms / Courtesy of the Artist and Fotografiska
While all the awardees of the Leica Women Foto Project present a divergent female perspective on humanity, they are bound together by a glimmering thread. In the face of suffering promised by gendered oppression, each woman has the burning desire to be free and the limitless potential to light the world on fire. The tapestry of womanhood is woven from this thread to create the bind of humanity. Navigating sexual trauma, identity, relationships, and systemic suffering, each woman is bound to the other in her yearning for freedom and her infinite possibilities in such a world.
The work of the awardees of the annual Leica Women Foto Project Award initiative created by Leica Camera USA will be on exhibit at Fotografiska New York until April 19th.
For more information on the exhibition, please visit Fotografiska’s website.
