Mona Sultan's 'Hindsightings' Transforms Found Photographs into Haunting Collages

Mona Sultan's exhibition 'Hindsightings' presents collages made from found mid-century Kodak color photographs (1940s–1960s), sourced from flea markets, online archives, and antique fairs. Sultan cuts, enlarges, and reassembles the images, amplifying their chemical deteriorations—fading emulsions, fingerprints, stains—rather than correcting them. The works hover between recognition and erasure, with faces dissolving into color fields and bodies appearing partially. Sultan describes a 'push and pull' between clarity and ambiguity, influenced by Albert Camus's 'The Myth of Sisyphus' and the absurdist acceptance of unknowability. She does not digitally manipulate beyond scanning and cropping, and cites Gerhard Richter and Francesca Woodman as influences. The series includes pieces like 'A Sort of Twilight' (2026, 153 x 51 cm), 'By Exposure to Light' (2026, 18 x 18 cm), 'Held Still' (2026, 40 x 40 cm), and 'Blue is the Distance' (2026, 59 x 59 cm). Sultan's practice rejects archival categorization, instead extending the cycle of loss and rediscovery inherent in found objects. The exhibition is featured on Rise Art.