EXHIBITIONS

LEE FRIEDLANDER

FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE, MADRID

For his series, America by Car, the photographer travelled through almost all 50 U.S. states over a period of ten years – capturing his home country straight from the driver’s seat. The windscreen, dashboard and rear-view mirror of his rental car became part of his impressions of the roads, meadows, forests, deserts, churches and oil fields of this vast nation. This is America, the Land of the Free – and there are few who have explored it as thoroughly as Lee Friedlander. “It fascinates me that there is a variety of feeling about what I do,” the American photographer once said. “I’m not a pre-meditative photographer. I see a picture and I make it. If I had a chance, I’d be out shooting all the time. You don’t have to go looking for pictures. The material is generous. You go out and the pictures are staring at you.” With this approach, the now 86-yearold has been collecting images for over a half a century, using every opportunity to record what he saw: children at play, the face of a passer-by, shop windows, or even just asphalt, stones and gravel.

With the exhibition, Lee Friedlander, the Fundación Mapfre in Madrid now presents a selection of 350 images, offering a chronological overview of the prolific artist’s oeuvre – his series and books, thematic and stylistic associations. The result is a rich compilation of portraits, self portraits, family pictures, nature scenes and urban impressions. Despite the sense of irony that runs through much of the street photographer’s work, Friedlander’s black and white images are, at their core, an affectionate tribute to his home country.

October 1, 2020 — January 10, 2021; Photo: Lee Friedlander, Paul Tate, Lafayette, Louisiana 1968

INFINITE IDENTITIES

HUIS MARSEILLE, AMSTERDAM

In this show, nine contemporary photographers and visual artists explore the nature of Photography in the Age of Sharing. They each illustrate how Instagram serves as their digital archive, studio, source of inspiration, presentation and networking platform. And yet, could social media channels ever replace physical artworks and exhibition spaces?

November 28, 2020 — March 7, 2021 Photo: Farah Al Qasimi, Noora’s Room, 2020

WHAT DOES DEMOCRACY LOOK LIKE?

MOCP, CHICAGO

The Museum in Chicago has searched its collection for visual interpretations of democracy. 200 images by photographers such as Dawoud Bey, Dorothea Lange and Garry Winogrand convey moments of shared humanity, stories of perseverance and protest, struggles and achievements.

Oct 1 — Dec 23, 2020; Photo: Darryl Cowherd, Stop White Police from Killing Us, St. Louis, MO, c. 1966–67

ZANELE MUHOLI

TATE MODERN, LONDON

In 2006, South Africa became the fifth country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. But this apparent tolerance is hardly reflected in everyday reality: openly gay and transgender people continue to face stigma, violence and exclusion. Zanele Muholi, a selfdescribed ‘visual activist’, uses art to take a stand against discrimination. For the past twenty years, the photogra-

pher has documented the lives of black LGBT and non-binary individuals. This showcase of 260 images illustrates the artist’s sensitive fight to give these communities the visibility they deserve.

November 5, 2020 — March 7, 2021 Photos: Zanele Muholi, Ntozakhe II, Parktown 2016; Busi Sigasa, Braamfontein, Johannesburg 2006

GIOVANNI GASTEL

MAXXI, ROM

Photo journals, pin-walls, pictures hung up on a string: many of us decorate our homes with snapshots of our favourite people, and the adventures we have shared. Italian photographer Giovanni Gastel, however, has dedicated a vast public space to those who have had a positive impact on his life: his exhibition The People I Like is comprised of more than 200 large-scale portraits of leading figures from the world of culture, design, art, fashion, music, politics and entertainment.

This extraordinary kaleidoscope of faces, poses and personal dreams represents an honest and intimate document of Gastel’s four-decadelong career: “The People I Like recounts my world, the people who have passed something on to me, influenced me, touched my soul... and to me, this does not depend on their origin, social background, group affiliation or anything else,” he explains. “The soul is something unique, independent, and, as such, it does not follow any predefined pattern, like the heart.” Whether he photographs Barack Obama, Zucchero or Monica Bellucci, Gastel always looks beyond his subjects’ external appearance. Instead, he seeks to capture that elusive, intangible essence that makes a person who they are.

September 15 — November 24, 2020 Photos: Giovanni Gastel, Bebe Vio; Isabella Ferrari; Monica Bellucci; Marco Pannella; Germano Celant; Carolina Crescentini