Solène Gün – The Reflections of Sands

Solène Gün – The Reflections of Sands

1 February – 28 March 2023

We are very pleased to present the solo exhibition of Solène Gün (*1996, based in Paris) in our gallery.

*Untitled*, 2022
Analogue photography on Hahnemühle paper, 150 x 121 cm

The exhibition The Reflections of Sands by Solène Gün includes a photographic series and a film which has its premiere in the current exhibition. The project was produced by Gün during her trip to Türkiye, the homeland of her father. She travelled from Mardin in the east of the country to Mersin, which lies in the south-east on the Mediterranean. The area, scarred by decades of social and political conflict amid Kurdish autonomy struggles, Syrian warfare, and persistent economic crisis, is a combination of rough neighbourhoods, historical towns, nature landscapes and refugee settlements.

*Untitled*, 2022
Analogue photography on Hahnemühle paper, 38.5 x 48.5 cm

*The Reflection of Sands دەنگڤەدانا خیزێ*, 2022
HD video, colour, sound 12.35 minutes (Film still)

*Untitled*, 2022
Analogue photography on Hahnemühle paper, 85 x 105 cm

Over several weeks, the artist worked with young men of Kurdish, Turkish, and Syrian origin trying to apprehend their aspirations, their perspectives on life, their relationship with their homeland. The resulting film creates an intimate narrative, intertwining stories of this place, its people, its past and present. Gün also worked with her father who voiced parts of the film sharing his own memories and connecting them with the legends and histories of his home. Contrasting it with the scenes of young men and their almost naïve endearing dialogues, Gün manages to create a poetic exploration of the feelings of longing and belonging – between the hopes for a better future and the unceasing craving to connect with one’s homeland. The photographs complementing the film in the exhibition capture tender details of the everyday reality of these men and add subtle undertones to the story. Gün creates a powerful homage to the transformative power of youth while attempting to explore the identity of a generation through shared histories and stories.

*Untitled*, 2022
Analog photography on Hahnemühle Matt Fine Art paper 308g, 21 x 17 cm

Solène Gün (*1996, based in Paris) works with photography and film. Gün studied photography at the Ecole Cantonale d'Art de Lausanne (ECAL). Gün is a laureate of Foam Talent 2021; Swiss Design Awards, 2019; Photoforum Prize 2018. In her work, identity becomes the means of an intimate connection to the rich cultural fabric of her surroundings. Whether collaborating with luxury brands such as Bottega Veneta and Audemars Piguet, or exhibiting internationally as she did with Foam and Coalmine Raum für Fotografie, her poetic sensibility remains unassumingly present.

FULL DOCUMENTATION