| | | | | | | | Untitled, 1949/51 © Seydou Keïta / SKPEAC
courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva | | | | | | | | | | A Snake That Disappeared Through A Hole In The Wall | | | | 6 April – 20 June 2018 | | | | | | Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam Keizersgracht 609 . 1017 DS Amsterdam
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | Untitled, 1954 © Seydou Keïta / SKPEAC
courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva | | | | | | | 6 April – 20 June 2018 | | | In the 1950s and 60s, a colourful collection of inhabitants of Bamako, capital of Mali, posed for Seydou Keïta (1921-2001, Mali).
People visited Keïta’s studio to have their picture taken at their best: wearing extravagant dresses made from wonderful textiles with splendidly formed headdresses, or posing in a modern Western suit with a bow tie, leaning against a motorcycle, or with a radio tucked under their arm. His oeuvre reflects a portrait of an era that captures Bamako’s transition from a cosmopolitan city in a French colony to the proud capital of independent Mali. | | | | | | | | | Untitled, 1952-1955 © Seydou Keïta / SKPEAC
courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva | | | | | | | Keïta’s remarkable archive of over 10.000 negatives came to light in 1992 after a discovery by André Magnin, the then-curator of Jean Pigozzi's contemporary African art collection. Modern prints were printed from the negatives with Keïta’s collaboration, allowing his work to be introduced to the art world. International fame quickly followed. The exhibition in Foam consists of signed modern prints, and a large selection of unique vintage prints. | | | | | | | | | Untitled © Seydou Keïta / SKPEAC
courtesy CAAC – The Pigozzi Collection, Geneva | | | | | | Seydou Keïta – Bamako Portraits is part of an exhibition series about photo studios, presented by Foam in recent years. This series is based on the growing interest in ‘vernacular photography’ and its acknowledgement of social-historical and artistic value.
The exhibition was developed in collaboration with the Contemporary African Art Collection (CAAC) – The Pigozzi Collection.
Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, the City of Amsterdam, Delta Lloyd, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation. | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | The Unseen 2015 © Tereza Zelenkova | | | | | | | A Snake That Disappeared Through A Hole In The Wall | | | | 6 April - 10 June 2018 | | | According to an old Slavic legend, a snake inhabits people’s homes and brings happiness and prosperity to the household. This ‘snake housekeeper’ was traditionally welcomed with a bowl of milk on the threshold. The story is one of the many folk tales from the Czech Republic which Tereza Zelenkova (1985, Ostrava) seeks to revive. Over the course of two years, the artist accumulated numerous stories that formed the starting point for extensive journeys through the landscape of her childhood.
Zelenkova unearthed tales that hover somewhere between history and myth. She photographed a hole in the bedroom wall of the ruthless sixteenth-century countess Elizabeth Bathory, who was said to bathe in the blood of virgins to preserve her youth. A door in the Gothic Houska Castle allegedly leads to the entrance gate to hell. And the centuries-old Byci Skala Cave – a rich archaeological site that is also considered a sacred space – turned out to be a mass grave for ritually sacrificed women. | | | | | | | | | | | Dog Cemetery, 2015 © Tereza Zelenkova | | | | | | Besides local histories and folk tales, the artist was inspired by the sinister nineteenth-century poems by Karel Jaromir Erben and the fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen. She also visited the places that feature in the scientific literature by the Czech geologist, meteorologist and philosopher Václav Cílek, and in Gustav Meyrink’s descriptions of the city of Prague. Where reality ends and the imagination begins is irrelevant: science, religion and mythology seamlessly merge in Zelenkova’s magic realist scenes.
In contrast to her subject matter, Zelenkova’s work method is straightforward and factual: the mysterious, sometimes outright baroque scenes are typically photographed head-on with an unforgiving flash. With her camera Zelenkova isolates and collects her findings almost like a scientist organises his specimen. Together, the images present an archaeology of a fantastical reality. | | | | | | | | | | Tripod Meridian Hall Prague 2016 © Tereza Zelenkova | | | | | | Tereza Zelenkova (1985, Ostrava, Czech Republic) attained her MA in Photography at the Royal College of Art in London in 2012, and her BA in Photographic Arts at the University of Westminster in 2010. Her work featured in group exhibitions in London’s Whitechapel Gallery (2017), in Le Bal in Paris (2015) and Musée de l’Élysée in Lausanne (2015). Her work has been included in the collections of Saatchi Gallery in London, Museum Winterthur in Switzerland and the V&A in London. She has published three books: Supreme Vice (2011), Index of Time (2012) and The Absence of Myth (2013). Zelenkova lives and works in London.
This exhibition is made possible with support of the Gieskes-Strijbis Fund and the Van Bijlevelt Foundation and Kleurgamma Fine Art Photolab.
Foam is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, Delta Lloyd, the City of Amsterdam, Olympus and the VandenEnde Foundation. | | | | | | unsubscribe here
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