Photos by Diana Larrea.

Keisha Scarville uses photography and performance to explore the nocturnal landscape as a transformative space that addresses questions of place, power, and self-formation. Inspired by the late Guyanese author, Wilson Harris’ first novel, “Palace of the Peacock,” Scarville proposes a new topographic understanding of place, which blurs the space that exists between the body and the terrain. Kosisochukwu Nnebe’s work explores the relationship people of African descent have with nature through a focus on maroon histories and the migration of plantlife. Using the banana leaf as both a geographic material and the temporary repository of archival images created through the process of chlorophyll printing, Nnebe’s work engages with cycles of nature including the decay of the leaves themselves, in a way that re-imagines history and hierarchy between humans and nature. Both artists are contemplating the relationship of people to place, not only in ways that reference the physicality behind that dynamic, but more so the unseen histories, stories and possibilities that linger in the gap. 

This exhibition was part of the 2024 WOPHA Congress programming.

About Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA)

Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded to research, promote, support, and educate on the contributions of women and non-binary photographers to modern and contemporary art in order to rewrite the artistic canon and provoke social change. WOPHA fosters a more diverse and equitable world by providing a permanent archive for future generations that preserves, documents, and promotes women photographers’ work while being a driving force for innovative thinking and discussion about the role of women in photographic arts.