Twenty Artists Reclaim Colonial-Era Photography at Museum Rietberg

The exhibition 'A Kind of Paradise' at Museum Rietberg in Zurich showcases the work of twenty contemporary artists who reinterpret photographs from the colonial era. It is organized into four thematic sections: Shapeshifters, Confrontation, Care, and In the Photo Fantastic. In the Shapeshifters section, artists such as Rosana Paulino, Cédric Kouamé, and Dinh Q. Lê create counter-archives to highlight the absence of visual records in non-European communities. Confrontation features Omar Victor Diop, Yuki Kihara, Frida Orupabo, and Dimakatso Mathopa, who critique mass-produced imagery that enforces racial hierarchies. The Care section presents works by Sasha Huber, Tuli Mekondjo, and Zenaéca Singh, who aim to protect figures often objectified by the camera. Lastly, In the Photo Fantastic, inspired by Saidiya Hartman's critical fabulation, includes artists like Tshepiso Moropa, Aline Motta, and Raphaël Barontini, who fill archival voids with imagined narratives. Throughout the exhibition, photographs from Museum Rietberg's collection, captured in Africa and Asia between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, are featured. Additionally, a new film chronicles the interactions of artists, researchers, and curators with these images.