LAUSANNE.- Twenty years after the groundbreaking exhibition reGeneration, Photo Elysée is reasserting its commitment to young artists with Gen Z – Shaping A New Gaze.
This new exhibition brings together 66 artists from around the world. Born between the mid-1990s and 2010, this generation questions norms, challenges codes, and redefines its place in a changing world.
Through intimate stories, multiple identities, reinvented family ties, and a sensitive exploration of the body and gender, Gen Z gives voice to a multiplicity of perspectives. The artists assert their need for representation and their desire to speak out in an unstable global context.
Conceived as an immersion into the contemporary issues shaping this generation, the exhibition is structured around four themes, each offering an insight into the concerns and aspirations of a young generation that creates, questions, demands and reinvents itself.
THE FOUR SECTIONS OF THE EXHIBITION
1. Mapping a sense of belonging
This first section explores the home as the foundation of identity. Be it a refuge or a source of tension, it is represented here in all its complexity. Through archives, memories, inherited traumas, and new forms of cohabitation, the photographers question how personal and collective identities are constructed and reinvented. A sensitive reflection on what it means to "belong."
2. Shifting realities
Beyond the home, the artists address a world undergoing political, climatic, and social upheaval. Their works evoke exile, instability, and resilience. When benchmarks falter, ecosystems collapse, or displacement intensifies, the notion of "home" becomes uncertain. The works on display reflect this tension between rootedness and uprootedness.
3. Beyond the mirror
The body, long perceived as the foundation of identity, is sometimes experienced as a space of transformation. Many Generation Z artists question gender norms and stereotypes.
Through their images, they give shape to emotions while exploring mental health and inner life. The body becomes a language, revealing realities that escape the gaze.
4. Multiplying perspectives
This final section interweaves issues of race, history, and culture. By reclaiming control of their narratives, artists challenge dominant representations and propose new visual languages. Photography becomes a tool for resistance and transformation, an invitation to rethink the way in which we see the world.
PUBLICATION
A book published by Textuel (Paris) accompanies the exhibition. The preface is by journalist Salomé Saqué.
ARTISTS
Delali Ayivi (TG/DE, 1996); Chloé Azzopardi (FR, 1994); Hidhir Badaruddin (SG, 1995); Daveed Baptiste (US, 1997); Clara Belleville (FR, 1996); Sara Benabdallah (MA, 1995); Jeremy Chih-Hao Chuang (TW, 1997); River Claure (BO, 1997); Thaddé Comar (FR/CH, 1993); Matthieu Croizier (FR/CH, 1994); Sara De Brito Faustino (PT/NL, 1999); Alina Frieske (DE, 1994); Claudia Fuggetti (IT, 1993); Florian Gatzweiler (DE, 1998) ; Sascha Levin (DE, 2000) ; Devashish Gaur (IN, 1996); Valerie Geissbühler Pacheco (CH/PE, 1999); Toma Gerzha (RU, 2003); Mahalia Taje Giotto (CH/IT, 1992); Salomé Gomis-Trezise (FR/GB, 1999); Lea Greub (DE, 1998); Pia-Paulina Guilmoth (US, 1993); Marvel Harris (NL, 1995); Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo (ZA, 1993); Lorane Hochstätter (CH, 2001) ; Ben Hubert (GB, 2002); Francesca Hummler (US/DE, 1997); Matej Jurčević (HR, 1995); Lisa Karnadi (ID, 1997); Nur Aishah Kenton (SG/GB, 1998); Mayssa Khoury (LB/US, 1997); Ahmed Khirelsid (SD, 2001); Maria Kniaginin-Ciszewska (PL, 1998); Jude Lartey (GH, 2000); Phu'o'ng Nguyên Lê (VN, 2002); Quil Lemons (US, 1997); Yun Ping Li (ES, 1998); Margaret Liang (CN, 1998); Vuyo Mabheka (ZA, 1999); Isabella Madrid (CO, 1999); Luna Mahoux (BE, 1996); Gabriela Marciniak (PL, 1996); Dimakatso Mathopa (ZA, 1995); Sara Messinger (US/DE, 1998); Steven Molina Contreras (US, 1999); Cheryl Mukherji (IN, 1995); Noyan (CH/TR, 1999); Daniel Obasi (NG, 1993); Alice Pallot (FR, 1995); Laurence Philomène (CA, 1993); Soyeohang Rai (IN, 2001); Carla Rossi (IT, 1999); Emma Sarpaniemi (FI, 1993); Rachel Seidu (NG, 1997); Fatimazohra Serri (MA, 1995); Suwa Shin (KR, 2000); Charlie Tallott (GB, 2000); D. M. Terblanche (ZA, 1998); Agate Tūna (LV, 1996); Varvara Uhlik (UA, 1997); Farren van Wyk (NL/ZA, 1993); Tianyu Wang (CN, 1997); Ziyu Wang (CN, 1998); Sophia Wilson (US, 2000); Zhidong Zhang (CN, 1996); Andong Zheng (CN, 1992).
