Shared connections, sense of place and belonging are central to being human, our existence and wellbeing. Wounded by capitalism and digital isolation, these core aspects of human being are increasingly sites of contestation, exploitation and experimentation. Across three distinct thematic threads of identity, memory, and ecology, eleven artists from the dg03 collective and beyond have come together to share explorations of being human.

Identity

Notions of identity and belonging are deeply embedded in existing political and cultural discourses about the personal, social and collective. They permeate the works of George Dyer, Hanieh Yavari, Fred Feng, Gigi Zhang, and Ornela Aliaj. Dyer’s series of stamps reimagines the face of the monarchy, replacing the traditional sovereign with ‘dark-skinned brothers’ to question who is afforded cultural power. Drawing on similar themes of visibility and agency, Yavari’s photographic practice examines how women’s self-expression is often shaped by internalising the ‘outside gaze’. Zhang’s installation further expands on these ideas by investigating how our sense of self is affected by our familial histories. Building on ideas of authenticity and selfhood, Fred Feng’s tender portraits of their friends during and after their physical and psychological transition visualise the emotional struggles inherent in the process of becoming one’s true self. Aliaj’s digital work expands on this by framing human unpredictability as an intrinsic “glitch” within probability-based systems that seek to control our future. Together, their practices sit at the intersection of gender, race, system, and self, questioning what it means to be seen, acknowledged, and empowered.

Memory

Memories, experiences and meaning are the building blocks of being human examined through the works of Xinyue Tao, Farhad Yasavoli and Crispin Day. Tao combines her archival photographs with present-day materials to address how gaps in memory become filled by present-day experiences. Yasavoli’s installation explores ideas of displacement, memory and belonging through photographs made during his last visit to his home country. While Day’s works draw on photographic archival material and encounters with the landscape to explore the possibilities and speculations at the heart of our irresistible desire to create personal meaning through stories and personal narratives. Collectively, these artists investigate the ways in which memory, narrative and experiences of the present shape our sense of being human.

Ecology

Developing these themes, Tzion Essel, Georgios Chatzakis and Sutirtha Chatterjee use photography to address the relationship between humans and the natural world. Essel’s painterly photographs of birds and human beings create a visual dialogue, drawing them into moments of unexpected kinship. Chatzakis’s photographs from his walks in nature create a space for discovery and healing, exploring how the outside world impacts our personal experiences. Conversely, Chatterjee’s dystopian photographs developed within smart townships in India expose how colonial legacies of extraction continue to shape humans’ relationships with the land in post-colonial societies. These three artists collectively explore our beautiful, messy and complex relationships with the outdoors.

dg03 is a photographic collective whose members come from Albania, China, Greece, India , Iran and the UK. human: being is a celebration of diverse perspectives, friendship and community. Through our distinct and interconnected photographic approaches, we stand for collective strength and co-creation and against systems, people and experiences that divide and isolate.

strength and co-creation and against systems, people and experiences that divide and isolate.