In/Visible

In/Visible is a fundraiser and show group, curated by Sophie Strobele that boasts a host of vibrant contributors. The participating artists include Térence Bikoumou, Mathias Depardon, Fatoumata Diabaté, Kevin Felicianne, Bettina Pittaluga, Cédrine Scheidig, Wendelin Spiess, Charlotte Yonga, and young Soul Food members. Soul Food is a charity helping migrant children feel at home in Paris, whose members are unaccompanied minors, young migrants, and refugee youth between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two.

This exhibition is a collaboration between Soul Food, ERE Collective, a creative non-profit organisation acting as a creative studio (@erecollective), and Sheriff Projects, a business that takes action to balance profit with purpose (@sheriff.projects). Sheriff Gallery subverts stereotypes through the democratisation of both its expertise and facilities. Strobele has curated a series of humanitarian, societally and ecologically engaged shows that communicate Sheriff Gallery’s determination to “nurture new concepts, various perspectives and an engaged and active community.”

Throughout the year, Sheriff Gallery has organised a series of workshops between eight professional photographers and five young Soul Food Members which included visiting museums, street photography and portrait workshops, and sneak peeks into the process behind printing and the retouching of fine art. Young Soul Food members were taken on cultural excursions and worked directly with artists. They were exposed to careers in the arts and explored different art forms, allowing them to be visible in whichever way they choose. The collaboration was a creative experience for both the professionals and the young members. In/Visible is the final product of this experience. The collaboration of such a wide variety of contributors, from creation to installation, aids in the presentation of art as a medium for expression and visibility.

The exhibition uses art to open up a positive discourse surrounding migration. In a call to compassionate collaboration, In/Visible presents the universal possibilities of art by drawing light upon the human aspects of migration and the importance of a diverse society. In/Visible encourages us to reflect on our own society. How much visibility is given to migrants and refugees? How are they presented, or represented, to the public eye? Art and culture feed the soul. Come, and let your soul participate in the feast!