Yulia Mahr, Unbecoming
A study of the beautiful and the transient in an ode to the natural world.
Unbecoming, Yulia Mahr’s first institutional exhibition, confronts us with the fact of our ecological being, manifesting the perpetual, imperceptible transformations that govern all lifeforms. Broadly divided into three themes—birth, death and transfiguration—the exhibition posits the beautiful and the unsightly not only as inevitable but also indistinguishable facets of the human condition. Mahr’s images and videos of scarred bodies, decaying matter and lifeless animals exert a tender force: they are stone rendered flesh, fragility rendered strength, tragedy rendered poetry. Crystalline or murky, the largely monochromatic works appear suspended in time like visions or memories, each fragments of ecosystems punctuated by fateful moments of loss, hope and wonder. Evoking lifetimes past and yet to come, Unbecoming juxtaposes biological and emotional realities to reveal the essence of our existence: an unwavering resilience to renew ourselves, to become again.
Wehrmuehle Museum, Berlin
27 April - 26 May 2024
www.wehrmuehle.com
Yulia Mahr and curator Margot Mottaz discuss the artist’s recent body of work on show at Wehrmuehle in Berlin, and its enquiry into their ideas of beauty.
Image credits:
Filmed interview shot and edited by Matthias Maercks. Courtesy of the artist.
’Yulia Mahr, Unbecoming’, Installation views, Wehrmuehle. Photos: Angela Simi. Courtesy of the artist.