Solo presentation - Paris Photo 2024
During Paris Photo 2024 I was invited to have a solo presentation at the Emergence section. For this occasion I painted the walls and used carpet to make the booth a total installation.
Popel Coumou constructs artworks using layers of paper that are positioned over and alongside each other. The visual effect is graphic and playful. The simplest physical constructions – handmade collages – are transformed into intriguing, dreamlike images that compel the viewer to question what they see. Using only paper and light, Popel creates a sense of being suspended in space and time. The layers out of which she builds her latest interiors are photographs of skies. These cause natural colour gradients and create an illusion of depth, while the texture in the paper itself is clearly visible. These paper shapes transform into three-dimensional spaces. Popel explores the way our minds work; how little information we need in order to fill in the blanks and create our own realities.Over the last 20 years, Popel’s body of work has followed a steady trajectory, where every next step makes sense in her development yet surprises everyone who follows her. The artist used to present photographs of her collages and miniatures as the end product; something she has slowly stepped away from in recent years. The original, unique collages that are now presented as artworks further diffuse the borders between reality and fiction, figuration and abstraction. Tirelessly experimenting to find new forms of expression, Popel keeps lifting the medium of photography to unforeseen and exhilarating heights.