"Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage" at Moderna Museet Malmö

Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage, the retrospective of the image-maker that began at Photo Elysée in 2023, travels to Sweden where it will be on view at Moderna Museet Malmö.

After a period as a fashion editor at Harper's Bazaar and commissions for publications such as Vogue, Deborah Turbeville moved away the commercial logic of fashion photography. Instead, she used fashion as one element within a broader artistic practice, where the images carried narratives, atmospheres, and psychological states. In her photographs, women appear in evocative environments – abandoned interiors, corridors, bathhouses, and greenhouses. The images are often blurred, overexposed, or deliberately manipulated: scratched, toned, or fragmented. Through this treatment, the boundary between photography and other image forms dissolves.

The exhibition Photocollage traces Deborah Turbeville's artistic exploration over four decades, from fashion photography to personal and experimental works. It presents an extensive selection of her handmade collages, where the photograph becomes a part of the larger whole. Images are cut, torn, pinned, layered, and combined with other materials in compositions that approach painting or storyboard-like sequences. By foregrounding her work with material and process, the exhibition highlights a frequently overlooked aspect of Turbeville's practice and offers a deeper understanding of her significance for the history of photography.

Deborah Turbeville: Photocollage is curated by Nathalie Herschdorfer. The exhibition is organized by Moderna Museet and produced by Photo Elysée, Lausanne, in collaboration with MUUS Collection.