I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies Autograph October 10, 2025 | March 21, 2026
I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies
This major group exhibition examines how photographs can be deconstructed and reassembled through the idea of collage, offering new perspectives on complex histories and contested social realities. With deep roots in activism and artistic experimentation, photomontage has a rich legacy as a powerful tool for artists engaging with experiences of political dissent and erasure. Its possibilities are amplified by the relentless evolution of photography – a medium shaped by technological advancement and the shifting politics of representation.
From cut paper to generative AI, more than 90 works by 12 contemporary artists use collage as both method and metaphor, highlighting the fragility of photographic ‘truth’ and the archives that hold it. Sabrina Tirvengadum uses an AI model she trained on family photographs to reconstruct a fractured history shaped by the legacy of indentured labour in Mauritius; Sunil Gupta’s digital collages from the 1990s navigate the intersections of queer identity and diasporic experience; and Qualeasha Wood transforms self-portraits into tapestries that reflect on bodily autonomy and the pressures of internet culture. Jess Atieno troubles colonial archives in East Africa to explore how histories can be restitched into counter-narratives. At the same time, Sheida Soleimani creates layered tableaux that link political exile from Iran with the care of injured migratory birds. As we reflect on the future of image-making, I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies resists completeness, questioning whether constructed images can stand in for disputed – and often entangled – narratives when words fail.
ARTISTS
Arpita Akhanda, Brook Andrew, Jess Atieno, Wendimagegn Belete, Sim Chi Yin, Sunil Gupta, Reena Saini Kallat, Henna Nadeem, Sheida Soleimani, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Thato Toeba, and Qualeasha Wood
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter is a British photographer, photography journalist, editor and curator and the founder and editorial director of TheAppWhisperer.com, an independent international photography publication established in 2009.Her journalism, criticism and commentary have appeared in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Financial Times, BBC, Vogue Italia, LensCulture, Popular Photography, Android Magazine, NikonPro, DPReview, Which Digital Camera and Which Camera. She has lectured internationally on photography and mobile art, served as a juror for international photography awards, and exhibited her own photographic work across the UK, Europe, South Korea and the United States.Alongside her editorial work, Joanne's photographic and postgraduate research explores death, grief, memory, representation and social inequality through contemporary photography, participatory practice and visual research methods, with the longer-term aim of developing this work through doctoral research.Through TheAppWhisperer, she continues to publish independent photography journalism spanning contemporary photographic practice, mobile imaging, photographic apps, computational photography and emerging imaging technologies.Joanne is available for editorial commissions, photography projects, judging, curatorial work, speaking engagements, consultancy and selected collaborations.
