DAVID UZOCHUKWU
“IN THE WAKE”

David Uzochukwu is one of the shortlisted artists for Prix Pictet Fire and his photographs are part of the exhibition of the same name on view from April 21 to May 7, 2023, at Fotografie Forum Frankfurt. In his exhibited series In the Wake (2015–2020) the artist deals with opposites such as destruction and rebirth, mourning and new beginnings, nature and civilization.

Often Uzochukwu’s pictures show people who seem to blend into nature as if they were naturally part of the subject matter. He reconstructs his photographs using digital post-processing to remove social markers, leaving his protagonists embedded in a kind of supernatural context. “Digitally stripping places from clear historic and geographic markers, and bodies from the confines of their social reality, I imagine what core remains when layers of our everyday are dissolved one by one.”, he explained in his statement.

In the gallery talk with Celina Lunsford (artistic director FFF), David Uzochukwu will discuss the background of his series In the Wake, and its relation to the exhibition theme Fire.

The Prix Pictet is considered the most important prize for photography and sustainability; each award cycle is dedicated to a specific theme. David Uzochukwu was nominated by Celina Lunsford for the cycle on the theme of Fire and selected by the jury for the shortlist from more than 600 nominations worldwide.

David Uzochukwu (*1998) is an Austrian and Nigerian artist. Growing up in Luxembourg and Belgium, Uzochukwu delved into self-portraiture at age 13 and began developing a largely digital practice. It led to vivid collaborations with the artists FKA Twigs and Iris van Herpen, among others, as well as a commission for the World Wide Fund for Nature. Their self-portrait series, A Familiar Ruin, was included in the group show Dey Your Lane! at Bozar, Brussels (2016). Further exhibitions include Photo Vogue Festival, Milan (2018, 2019), and The New Black Vanguard at the Rencontres d’Arles (2021). Uzochukwu was nominated for an International Center of Photography Infinity Award in 2019 and named as One to Watch by the British Journal of Photography the following year. Uzochukwu’s first short film, Götterdämmerung, premiered at the Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis, Saarbrücken in 2021, while their first film installation is in development at CPH:LAB, Copenhagen.

DAVID UZOCHUKWU“IN THE WAKE”

DAVID UZOCHUKWU
“IN THE WAKE”