Foam Talent 2022

This fall Foam proudly presents the work of a new generation of artists in the group exhibition Foam Talent 2022. The 20 participating artists look closely at both the world around us, and the one within - without shying away from discomfort or pain. Climate change, political conflict, discrimination, displacement, and social justice issues: the works address the pressing problems of our times and remind us that photography has the potential to capture the unspeakable. We are proud to present a selection that offers as much food for thought as beauty and innovation of the medium.

Via the Foam Talent Call, an international search for talented emerging photographers under the age of 40, Foam invites photographers from all over the world to submit their portfolios. Selected photographers gain international exposure and recognition within the photography industry through a number of career-building opportunities offered by Foam, including publication in Foam Magazine’s Talent issue, a presentation on Foam’s digital platform and a travelling exhibition premiering at Foam. Additionally, the Talents will participate in a mentorship programme and various network activities, and get the opportunity for their work to be added to the prestigious Art Collection Deutsche Börse of the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation. Since 2021 and onwards the Talent Call will be organised bi-annually, meaning the next edition will run in 2023. At the base of this decision lies the aim to further optimise the Talent Programme and offer even more guidance to the talents in developing their artistic practice. During this 15th edition of the Foam Talent Call, twenty artists were selected out of 1.938 received submissions from 85 countries. Their portfolios have been published in Foam Magazine #61: Talent in February of this year. This fall, the group exhibition will be presented at Foam’s museum in Amsterdam and beginning of 2023 the exhibition will travel to Frankfurt.

The twenty bodies of work were selected based on how they connect to timely subjects and the ways in which they push forward the medium of photography. All in their own ways, the work dares to interrogate ideological structures and the systemic issues stemming from them. The diverse series are influenced by the patriarchal, capitalistic and religious structures that form our society. Where Lina Geoushy investigates the plethora of emotions and complex social dynamics of violence against women in Egypt with the series Shame Less, Pavo Marinović explores the archetypes and biases of masculinities specific to former Yugoslavia through the series Marbel Ass. Diego Moreno grapples with the stern presence of the Catholic Church in his youth and how this has influenced his ideas of self-perception, sexuality and family. On a more global level Kata Geibl’s constructed images are symbolically charged and interrogate the global issues that stem from capitalism and how we perceive our contemporary social, political and economic system. The artists of Foam Talent 2022 use the photographic medium to respond to, digest and navigate a world that continues to present new challenges and problematic structures.

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Artists Foam Talent 2022

Marwan Bassiouni, Myriam Boulos, Olgaç Bozalp, Laura Chen, Kata Geibl, Lina Geoushy, Marvel Harris, Alexandra Rose Howland, Ange-Frédéric Koffi, Czar Kristoff, Yushi Li, Carla Liesching, Seif Kousmate, Pavo Marinović, Diego Moreno, Donja Nasseri, Ghazaleh Rezaei, Linn Phyllis Seeger, Ritsch Sisters, Donavon Smallwood.

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