Lee Shulman & Omar Victor Diop リー・シュルマン & オマー・ヴィクター・ディオプ

Being There assembles a gallery of familiar images—fragments of life once preserved in family albums, capturing fleeting celebrations and intimate moments. Yet these evocative snapshots construct an illusion of unbroken happiness, carefully framing joy while leaving the world’s complexities out of sight. It is within these absences that Being There finds its focus.

Originally taken in 1950s and 1960s North America, the photographs reflect an era of economic recovery and Cold War tensions, but also one of racial segregation and civil rights struggles. Lee Shulman and Omar Victor Diop intervene in these seemingly carefree scenes, introducing a Black presence where one would have been historically impossible. Their project disrupts the aesthetic innocence of these images, transforming them into powerful commentaries on race, class, and historical exclusion.

Maintaining the surface textures and grain of the originals, Shulman and Diop play with the tension between the ordinary and the extraordinary. The insertion of Diop into these images exposes the isolation of the Other, turning his presence into both a disruption and a quiet act of defiance. The result is unsettling, unexpected, and even playful, yet its critique is sharp and uncompromising. Being There does not offer answers but invites reflection—on visibility, representation, and the narratives we inherit. By blending fiction and history, Shulman and Diop confront the unease of addressing racism, insisting that discomfort should not lead to silence but rather to deeper questioning and engagement.

Text by Taous Dahmani