Join January artist Jana Sophia Nolle for an Artist Talk regarding his Blue Sky exhibition, Living Room: San Francisco & Berlin.

THIS ARTIST TALK WILL TAKE PLACE ON ZOOM

Jana Sophia Nolle’s series Living Room: San Francisco & Berlin concentrates on the ever-growing rift between rich and poor. Now living and working primarily in Berlin, her conceptual photographic study of makeshift shelters began during her stays in San Francisco from 2016 — 2019.

Nolle works with people living on the streets to understand how their improvised dwellings are constructed. After establishing relationships with the unhoused individuals, and with their permission, Nolle approaches wealthy people for permission to access their homes. Then, in a performative act, she recreates and photographs the makeshift shelters within the homes of the wealthy.

The photographs are an inventory, a typology of improvised dwellings, cataloging their various attributes. The elaborate reconstructions show a conglomerate of repurposed items and materials, resulting in a series of architectural interiors. While aesthetically striking, Nolle’s resulting contrast of living spaces also touches on larger phenomena of socio-political changes, housing shortages, exclusion and gentrification. The project aims to challenge our perceptions and definitions of living space and wealth, of poverty, and the importance of refuge and security.

Living Room is an ongoing project. Currently Nolle is working on its European continuation in Paris and London.