Focus. Desire. by Paul Mpagi Sepuya at Fotomuseum Winterthur

Fotomuseum Winterthur is presenting Paul Mpagi Sepuya’s first major solo exhibition in Switzerland. It brings together both early and recent bodies of work alongside extensive ephemera drawn from the artist’s personal archive.

Overview

In his portraits and studio photographs, the US artist Paul Mpagi Sepuya (b. 1982) blends sensual intimacy with visual precision. Drawing on intimate encounters with friends and a collaborative practice of image-making, he creates carefully constructed compositions that insist on a queer and Black subject position in photography.

Through the deliberate placement of mirrors, fabrics, and studio props, Sepuya stages a sensuous interplay of exposure and concealment as he immerses bodies and gazes in a dynamic web of relations – reflected, refracted, and fragmented; multiplied and woven into new configurations. By laying bare the act of photographing, Sepuya pulls viewers into the complex dynamics of looking and desire, which he continually negotiates and subtly shifts. 

The exhibition unfolds across three spaces of photographic production that are central to Sepuya’s practice: Studio, Dark Room, and Archive. The exhibition is curated by Doris Gassert and Christopher A. Nixon.