Portraits in focus—revealing their aesthetic, material, social, and political layers.

Can a portrait represent violence and healing at the same time? By juxtaposing iconic images created at points of conflict and growth in history, Speaking in Pairs examines how conflicting forces can be experienced in what initially appears to be a quiet photograph and how such evidence of being present and alive can increase visibility or hasten our demise.

Portraits allow immortality. But who gets to be pictured and seen? Who may tell their story? Speaking in Pairs seeks to offer navigational references across time and geography, between works and the practitioners making, or pondering, them. It considers art’s historical and contemporary response to oppression and crisis and offers representation to those impacted by extraordinary events. It unravels the dynamics between sitters, artists, and viewers that complicate the image in ways that are not immediately discernible. 

Featured artists include Wim Wenders, Tuli Mekondjo, Elinor Carucci, Susan Meiselas, Camilo Vergara, Hans Haacke, Dennis Adams, Hanna Schygulla, Candida Höfer, Dawoud Bey, Marco Breuer, Dorothea Lange, Sigridur Zoega, Albert Hien, Ken Ohara, Melissa Shook, Paul Fusco, Rein Jelle Terpstra, Carl van Fechten, Thomas Gilson, Meredith Davenport, Yoongme Yoon, Barbara Klemm, Michael Wesely, Judith Joy Ross, Sam Sherman, Omer Fast, Vie Darling, Juan Sanchez, Virginia Vergara, Alfred Stieglitz, August Sander, Hans Winkler, Nobu Aozaki, Reiner Leist, Andrea Frank, Sadaf Azadehfar, Carly Ries, Vera Lutter, Graciela Iturbide, Marc Ohrem-Leclef, and others.