WHAT LIES BENEATH | Presentation and artist talk with Olof Jarlbro
17 September, 6:30 PM – Synthesis Gallery
*Free entry
On 17 September at 6:30 PM, we invite you to meet Swedish photographer Olof Jarlbro, whose exhibition Poly is currently on view at Synthesis Gallery.
Under the title WHAT LIES BENEATH, Jarlbro will present a selection of photographs from several of his long-term projects. The presentation moves from the Philippine drug war to illegal gold mining in the Philippines and rat-hole mining for coal in the Philippines and India.
On the surface, these projects concern very different places and conflicts. Yet throughout his work, Jarlbro keeps returning to the same question: What happens to people when they find themselves at the bottom of a larger political or economic system? In the drug war, we encounter people caught in a brutal political reality. In the illegal mines, people risk their lives to make a living. In the coal mines, working conditions and environmental consequences become a direct reflection of our global demand for energy.
For Jarlbro, larger stories often become visible through the ordinary – a face, a gaze, a body or a working environment. As with Poly, these projects ultimately deal with human progress and the consequences we leave behind.
“Behind every resource, every product and every system, there is a human being.” – Olof Jarlbro