Carole Kvasnevski Gallery is hosting a group show by photographers Hélène Amouzou and Rezvan Zahedi. Until 22 December 2023, the two contemporary artists will be presenting “L’Entre-Deux“, a story torn between transparency and an ongoing struggle to obtain the right to exist.
Hélène Amouzou and Rezvan Zahedi share a common past that guides their practice of photographic art. Before they were even thirty, Rezvan Zahedi left Iran and Hélène Amouzou left Togo, each fleeing the political regime in their respective countries. Both women are faced with the challenges of survival in an almost dehumanised world undergoing political and societal change. In her artistic practice, Rezvan Zahedi becomes an opponent by capturing, through her photographic lens, street graffiti denouncing discrimination against women. For her part, Hélène Amouzou becomes politically involved after her husband is the target of a manhunt.
The work of these contemporary artists is presented as a voice, seeking to communicate to the public the cries of silenced women. The images captured by their photographic canons blend with the words to share with the viewer the experiences of these women whose voices have been forgotten. Through their images, they share their vision of the current state of the world, of otherness and of the multiple forms of violence resulting from repressive political and governmental power.
In her committed artistic practice, Rezvan Zahedi combines photography and calligraphy to turn women into a banner, a living material calling for recrimination. The photographer adds to her images a selection of quotations from the Iranian poetess Forough Farrokhzad, progressive works and restrictive discriminatory texts. Rezvan Zahedi demonstrates resistance and shows a hidden face in her photos, a symbol of the anonymity and judgement suffered by the body, mind and spirit.
Hélène Amouzou expresses her intimacy through her silver self-portraits, creating a veritable diary. Her moving images successfully capture the exile’s invisible state of solitude, a period in his life when suffering was omnipresent. In his quest for solace, the artist uses his art to create new territories, transforming his photographs into another country. In visually disturbing compositions, Hélène Amouzou presents a blurred body, caught between two worlds, in a spectral double exposure. This almost fictional figure mingles with the debris of an abandoned flat, where the wallpaper from the ‘Self-portrait, Molenbeek’ series loses its splendour, reflecting the world around her that refuses to look its brothers and sisters in the face.
Faced with this reality, Hélène Amouzou and Rezvan Zahedi have decided to take their fight head-on. They have embarked on an uncompromising battle, courageously offering visitors a glimpse into their lives. Their photographs provide a touching insight into the different paths taken by these two contemporary artists. While Hélène Amouzou returns to Togo on the run, for Rezvan Zahedi the outcome remains impossible. Our photographers’ tales of exile are shared through “L’Entre-Deux“, an exhibition that offers a unique opportunity to discover the work of these two committed artists, who use photography as a means of giving a voice to the oppressed and highlighting the struggles for freedom and equality. “L’Entre-Deux” invites the public to reflect on issues of exile, identity and resistance, while offering a moving and immersive visual experience.