assignment: Extended Play - The Longevity Issue
artist: Dina Litovsky
assignment: Drone Pilot
artist: Sasha Maslov
story: In Real Life
artist: Niccolo’ Rastrelli
Omar Victor Diop x Lee Schulman
The Anonymous Project - Being There
Exhibition at The Rencontres d'Arles July 6, 2026 - October 4, 2026
Opening hours : 9:30 AM - 7:30 PMBeing There , Textuel, 2023.
Being There appears to be a constellation of familiar images—fragments of lives once tucked away in family albums—where fleeting celebrations and moments of intimacy are frozen in time. But these emotionally charged snapshots also create the illusion of continuous happiness: they carefully frame everyday life while relegating the rough edges of reality to the margins. It is precisely in these silences that Being There finds its strength.
Taken in North America in the 1950s and 1960s, these photographs bear witness to an era marked by economic recovery and the tensions of the Cold War, but also by racial segregation and the struggles for civil rights. Lee Shulman and Omar Victor Diop intervene in these seemingly carefree scenes, introducing a Black presence where history had rendered it impossible.
Their gesture cracks the visual innocence of these images and transforms them into incisive stances on race, class, and exclusion.
By preserving the grain and textures of the original photographs, Shulman and Diop cultivate a subtle tension between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Diop's appearance lays bare the isolation of the Other: his presence acts both as a disruption and as a silent act of resistance. The result intrigues, unsettles, sometimes amuses—but its critical edge remains sharp and uncompromising.
Being There doesn't offer easy answers: it opens up a space for reflection on visibility, representation, and the narratives we inherit. By intertwining fiction and history, Shulman and Diop confront the unease surrounding the issue of racism, reminding us that discomfort should never lead to silence, but rather fuel attention, questioning, and engagement.
Taous Dahmani
Exhibition produced by the Rencontres d'Arles.
Publication: Being There , Textuel, 2023.
Click here for tickets.
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Taken in North America in the 1950s and 1960s, these photographs bear witness to an era marked by economic recovery and the tensions of the Cold War, but also by racial segregation and the struggles for civil rights. Lee Shulman and Omar Victor Diop intervene in these seemingly carefree scenes, introducing a Black presence where history had rendered it impossible.
Their gesture cracks the visual innocence of these images and transforms them into incisive stances on race, class, and exclusion.
By preserving the grain and textures of the original photographs, Shulman and Diop cultivate a subtle tension between the ordinary and the extraordinary. Diop's appearance lays bare the isolation of the Other: his presence acts both as a disruption and as a silent act of resistance. The result intrigues, unsettles, sometimes amuses—but its critical edge remains sharp and uncompromising.
Being There doesn't offer easy answers: it opens up a space for reflection on visibility, representation, and the narratives we inherit. By intertwining fiction and history, Shulman and Diop confront the unease surrounding the issue of racism, reminding us that discomfort should never lead to silence, but rather fuel attention, questioning, and engagement.
Taous Dahmani
Exhibition produced by the Rencontres d'Arles.
Publication: Being There , Textuel, 2023.
Click here for tickets.
artist: Thandiwe Muriu
Muriu will hold two exhibitions: one for CAMO, her signature series of vibrant portraits, and another presenting a new chapter created during her residency in Kyoto
Thandiwe Muriu’s journey into Camo began with a desire to redefine womanhood and express her feelings of invisibility. Shaped by her own journey of breaking out of the space of so-called “women’s work” to become an advertising photogra-pher, Muriu grappled with the societal expectations surrounding the place of women. Engaging in a dialogue between tradition and modernity, she employs textiles and common household items, making her subjects a canvas for reflec-tion on identity, representation, and community.
In Camo, wax textile is used as social vocabulary. Generationally, wax has been worn, shared, reinterpreted, and emotionally invested in as a tool of expression across the African continent. A widely accepted symbol of ‘Africanness’, it is deeply embedded in social and cultural practices.
Muriu’s subjects blend into these patterned fabric backgrounds yet remain in undeniable focus. Both a reflection of the pressure for women to occupy space quietly, and a rejection of the historical objectification of women’s bodies, Muriu’s works create a tension between visibility and erasure.
Asking questions about womanhood, Muriu turns to history in a process she calls ‘modernising history’ – reflecting on the past to expand the future. By doing so, she reflects on the expansive panorama of womanhood while presenting an offering of hope and joy.
The title of the series references ‘camouflage’ evoking thoughts of disappear-ance and blending in. But in Camo, what might otherwise remain overlooked or dismissed is given space to endure, to be seen, and to thrive.
Learn more - https://www.kyotographie.jp/en/programs/2026/thandiwe-muriu/
An Abundance of Plenty, 2024 © Thandiwe Muriu, Courtesy 193 Gallery
The Space Between Love and Comfort, 2025 © Thandiwe Muriu, Courtesy 193 Gallery
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