Vindication

Phoebe Wilson • 14 novembre 2024

Refute passivity in the face of adversity 

 
The Canopy gallery opens its doors to the Danish native artist Charlotte Haslund-Christensen with an exhibition dedicated to her 2009 work titled “WHO’S NEXT?” The open-ended question raises the issue of the stigmatisation and criminalisation of LGBTQ people internationally through the medium of photography.

The exhibition is comprised of 40 portrait photographs of LGBTQ people lined up on the walls of the gallery space. Charlotte Haslund-Christensen had undertaken the approach of making them resemble mugshots. This conveys the image of these people being the criminals they would be considered to be in the 76 countries where same sex relationships are illegal.


There is a striking performative aspect in this piece because each participant was brought to the prison basement of the Copenhagen Central Police Station. Unbeknownst to them they were treated like any other criminal, escorted past cell doors, stripped of their belongings, and thad heir fingerprints taken. Each mugshots were individually slipped into archival plastic sleeves, making these among the last physical prints to be made considering that by 2010 they turned to digital. 



The artist was inspired by Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous statement of outcry to marginalised groups during the rise of Nazism for the title and creation of her work “WHO’S NEXT?” The exhibition’s premiere welcomed readings of said poem from various languages including French, Creole, Nepalese, Chinese, Italian, Arabic. Some interpretations added a sentence mentioning a group that is being persecuted in their country. This artwork is a call to arms for solidarity and community to address the mechanisms of marginalisation and stigmatisation. 


The artwork lives and breathes in our current day as the entire collection is assembled in a limited edition box with the Niemöller poem. This enables the project to travel in countries that criminalise the LGBTQ+ community. As the artist asks friends to carry it with them conspicuously to take photographic evidence in said country as proof of vindication for this community. 



 “WHO’S NEXT?” Is a question that never ceases to be applicable regarding discrimination that is a facet that prevails in our society. This artwork was made almost 15 years ago and is still relevant today, Charlotte Haslund-Christensen hopes that her exhibition leaves viewers affected enough to refute passivity in the face of adversity. Because you never know if that might one day be you in their shoes as Niemöller states “and there was no one left to speak for me.”

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Vindication

par Phoebe Wilson • 14 novembre 2024
The Canopy gallery opens its doors to the Danish native artist Charlotte Haslund-Christensen with an exhibition dedicated to her 2009 work titled “WHO’S NEXT?” The open-ended question raises the issue of the stigmatisation and criminalisation of LGBTQ people internationally through the medium of photography. The exhibition is comprised of 40 portrait photographs of LGBTQ people lined up on the walls of the gallery space. Charlotte Haslund-Christensen had undertaken the approach of making them resemble mugshots. This conveys the image of these people being the criminals they would be considered to be in the 76 countries where same sex relationships are illegal.

par Evelyne Lacoux • 14 novembre 2024
L’expo photo « Who’s next ? » , annoncée à la Galerie Canopy, ne m’inspire pas à priori. J’y vois des personnes prises à la manière anthropomorphique des commissariats de Police, méthode inventée par le français Bertillon à la fin du 19 ème siècle. De quoi sont-elles coupables ? Qu’a voulu dire la photographe Danoise Charlotte Haslund-Christensen ?

par Patrick Mallet • 15 mai 2024
Qu’est-ce qu’un homme ? C’est à cette question que nous invite à réfléchir la pièce Zoo ou l’assassin philanthrope, adaptation théâtrale de son roman les Animaux dénaturés, écrite en 1963 par Vercors et présentée au Théâtre de la Ville dans une version revue par Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota et Dorcy Rugamba. La question pourrait paraître simple, l’homme est un être appartenant à l’espèce des hominidés. Et s’il persistait encore une autre branche des hominidés moins évoluée que la nôtre (les homo sapiens) ? Ses membres seraient-ils hommes tout comme nous ? Ou serait-ce des animaux ? Où se situe la frontière homme, animal ? La conscience , les sentiments, les émotions, ont longtemps été considérés comme le propre de l’homme mais les travaux plus récents ont montré que ce sont aussi l’apanage des animaux. Alors ? Alors, lors d’une expédition en Nouvelle-Guinée, des paléoanthropologues rencontrent des êtres primitifs, qui semblent être une autre espèce d’hominidé qui aurait survécu. Sont-ce des primates ou des hommes ? Pour y voir clair, un membre de l’expédition décide d’être le géniteur par insémination artificielle de l’enfant d’une « femelle » de ces êtres, de tuer le nouveau-né et de se dénoncer à la police. Son procès, auquel nous assistons, devra permettre de trancher la question. Le spectacle, non dépourvu d’humour, remarquablement mis en scène et interprété , très esthétique de par l’usage de masques d’une grande beauté figurant des animaux et du travail de lumière, bouscule nos repères et nos idées reçues en la matière. Nous en sortant à la fois ravis du bon moment passé et en proie à un questionnement multiple. Patrick Mallet
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