Deborah Turbeville and Ikram Abulkadir Discover Trend and the Physique

The time period “exhibition” is singular, however in follow, it hardly ever is. What we see is formed not solely by what stands in entrance of us, however by what surrounds it; what we now have simply seen, and what we carry ahead, and on this case, the exhibition subsequent door. Meaning accumulates throughout encounters, and it’s this logic that underpins Moderna Museet’s resolution, in collaboration with Photo Elysée, to current late-American vogue photographer Deborah Turbeville alongside considered one of her contemporaries. Reflecting on Turbeville’s place inside photographic historical past, curator Nathalie Herschdorfer describes her as “completely underrecognised,” significantly compared to male photographers working on the similar time, equivalent to Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Irving Penn, who are sometimes idolised as canonical. “We are now in a time where we have to rewrite the history of photography, to include other names,” she says. 

It was by way of this reassessment that curator Anna Tellgren launched Swedish-Somali photographer Ikram Abdulkadir to Turbeville’s work, and the exhibition pairing started to take form. “I introduced her to Turbeville,” Tellgren recollects. “She received a book and said, ‘This is fantastic.’” Tellgren and Herschdorfer noticed a continuity between the 2 artists and chosen Abdulkadir because the photographer to be exhibited alongside Turbeville. When requested why, they make it clear that the exhibition turns into plural. “It’s a continuation between women photographers across generations. Those who know Turbeville will discover Abdulkadir, and Abdulkadir has a lot of people who will discover Turbeville.”

Installed on the second ground of the transformed energy station in central Malmö are two concurrent exhibitions: Deborah Turbeville – Photocollage, curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer in collaboration with MUUS Collection, and Ikram Abdulkadir – Soft Focus, curated by Anna Tellgren. They stay formally separate, however are held in deliberate proximity. Across generations and contexts, the photographers strategy vogue, portraiture, and the physique from distinct positions, whereas permitting factors of resonance to floor by way of how their work is seen in relation.

Spanning images, picture books and collages, Deborah Turbeville – Photocollage chronicles the work of the late American photographer, exploring her experimental oeuvre that, at first of her profession, challenged the methods vogue images was seen and produced. Although Turbeville labored extensively for business publications, Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar to call just a few, she steadily stepped away from editorial conventions to experiment. The intention was to seize girls in another way than her male counterparts, not solely by way of their bodily rendering, but in addition picture manufacturing and collages. Her work, in different phrases, centres round how ambiance and feeling can come from artwork.

Across works equivalent to Untitled (Asser Levy Bathhouse) (c. 1975) and her seminal Venice collection (1978), the feminine physique seems inside interiors in a semi-paradoxical method; rigorously constructed but intentionally unstable. Turbeville’s girls are styled in bathing fits, silk clothes and fur coats, however the clothes dissolves into ambiance, the place the broader picture holds an virtually larger weight. This strategy extends into her photocollages, the place pictures are lower, layered and reassembled into composite works. The {photograph} shifts from floor to object – constructed quite than captured – the place which means is not contained inside a single body however produced by way of fragmentation and meeting.

When discussing the similarities between Turbeville and Abulkadir, Tellgren explains that whereas the younger Swedish photographer additionally explores vogue, her work inhabits a extra private follow by way of her topic and strategy. Her life is her canvas, which isn’t as instantly seen in Turbeville’s work. In Turbeville’s Bathhouse collection Venice collection, the physique is absorbed into constructed environments the place clothes turns into ambiance quite than commercial. In Abdulkadir’s Self portrait (2026) and Doreen, David (2023), visibility emerges by way of relation and closeness. While garments are current, the ladies as people are the focus. 

At the core of Ikram Abdulkadir – Soft Focus is an in depth private archive constructed over time. Her pictures convey collectively family and friends captured in home interiors, streets and public areas in Malmö, with a way of familiarity and repetition. Her visible language is constructed not solely by way of her topics, but in addition her color palette, which strikes between muted greens, blues and browns to sudden saturated tones of crimson, pink and purple. With a nod to Turbeville, methods equivalent to double exposures and overexposure soften the picture, introducing moments the place type turns into much less fastened and extra atmospheric.

Most guests, the curators observe, will arrive understanding solely one of many two artists. “Some visitors will come for one artist and discover the other,” they clarify. In follow, the exhibition doesn’t resolve this imbalance, however builds from it. To transfer between Turbeville and Abdulkadir is to maneuver between distinct methods of seeing – the place which means isn’t fastened inside both room, however formed within the passage between them. “You can see similarities, but they are also very different, and that’s what makes the combination interesting.” What emerges is much less a direct comparability than a continuity: girls photographing throughout totally different moments and contexts, turning towards their very own lives and environment as materials, and discovering area inside images to experiment with how these lives are seen.

Deborah Turbeville – Photocollage and Ikram Abdulkadir – Soft Focus are on present at Moderna Museet in Stockholm till 27 October 2026.