At the Wall House Museum in Gustavia, internationally acclaimed artist duo Cooper &amp; Gorfer unveil Between These Folded Walls, Utopia, a poetic and theatrical exploration of identity, migration, and the fragile dream of belonging.

Cooper &amp; Gorfer present&nbsp;Between These Folded Walls, Utopia&nbsp;at the Mus&eacute;e Territorial du Wall House in Gustavia, Saint Barth&eacute;lemy. The exhibition brings the internationally acclaimed duo&rsquo;s layered photographic narratives to the island, exploring identity, migration, and the fragile idea of belonging. <o:p></o:p>
Between These Folded Walls, Utopia is presented under the auspices of St Barth &Icirc;le d&rsquo;Art. The exhibition was made possible through the exceptional generosity of Yoram Roth, owner and chairman of Fotografiska and a proud member of St Barth &Icirc;le d&rsquo;Art, whose commitment to bringing world-class photography to the island has been instrumental in realizing this project. <o:p></o:p>
Through striking, dreamlike portraits and intricate collages, Cooper &amp; Gorfer imagine a poetic utopian theatre, one shaped by the voices and experiences of a new generation marked by displacement, resilience, and hope. Rooted in conversations with young women whose lives have been shaped by migration, the series reflects on the idea of Utopia&mdash;literally &ldquo;no place&rdquo;&mdash;as both a longing and a possibility. Within layered scenes of imagined architecture, gardens, and labyrinthine spaces inspired by literary worlds such as those of Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges, the artists construct a visual stage where identity can be reassembled and reimagined. Moving between reality and fiction, Cooper &amp; Gorfer invite us to reflect on memory, belonging, and the enduring human impulse to dream of a better world.<o:p></o:p>

Shadi Or The Girl With Many Hands, 2018 © Cooper & Gorfer

Maryan Holding Blue, 2020 © Cooper & Gorfer

Israa With Yellow Boxes, 2020 © Cooper & Gorfer

Roseline With Raised Arms, 2018 © Cooper & Gorfer

Segal And The Tiger, 2018 © Cooper & Gorfer

The Garden, 2020 © Cooper & Gorfer

Israa and the Pink Scarf, 2020 © Cooper & Gorfer

Yellow Roseline, 2020 © Cooper & Gorfer

Yohana Holding Scissors, 2020 © Cooper & Gorfer

<h2>Interview with Cooper &amp; Gorfer</h2>
L&rsquo;Officiel / Jenny Mannerheim:&nbsp;For those discovering your work for the first time, can you tell us how you met, where each of you is originally from, and where your studio is based today? Cooper &amp; Gorfer: Sarah Cooper is originally from the United States, and Nina Gorfer from Austria. Our distinct cultural histories and personal geographies have continuously informed our collaboration. They became the shared point of departure for our curiosity about place-bound narratives, cultural memory, and the ways identity is shaped by the environments we move through or leave behind. This year marks two decades of working together. Today, we work between our studios in Stockholm and on the Swedish West Coast. From there, our projects unfold internationally, shaped by long-term research and close collaborations with the women whose stories we engage with. L&rsquo;O: Your exhibition title,&nbsp;Between These Folded Walls, Utopia, in collaboration with Fotografiska is both poetic and charged with meaning. What is the origin of this title, and what does &ldquo;Utopia&rdquo; represent in your work today? C&amp;G: The title Between These Folded Walls, Utopia emerged from the idea of interior spaces, both physical and psychological. &ldquo;Folded walls&rdquo; evoke a maze, a constructed architecture we move through in search of the core of the self. They suggest the visible and invisible structures that shape our lives and identities: family histories, societal systems, inherited narratives, political structures. For many of the women in this series, those structures are not abstract. They are real and often restrictive. Migration, displacement, and personal ruptures leave tangible marks. The folded walls therefore hold a double meaning: they can protect, but they can also imprison. In this context, utopia does not deny reality. It does not romanticize struggle. Instead, it represents the capacity to imagine oneself beyond imposed limitations. <o:p></o:p>Those who carry multiple cultures within them, who have witnessed belief systems collapse and reassemble, embody that expanded vision. They remind us of the urgency of self-definition and of the right to redefine not only one&rsquo;s position, but the space one claims within the world. L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;Throughout the series, you construct what feels like a psychological and emotional architecture around your subjects. What are these &ldquo;folded walls&rdquo;, protective spaces, inner landscapes, or something more political? C&amp;G: The folded walls operate on several levels at once. They are intimate, protective spaces, carrying fragments of the women&rsquo;s lives and memories, yet they also suggest containment. The layered environments surrounding the protagonists of Utopia are not meant to illustrate external reality, but to visualize interior states. They hold memory, contradiction, and tension. The walls remain in flux, shifting and unstable, and the women themselves are not firmly anchored within a singular world. Instead, they share fragments of a larger narrative. Elements reappear across images, just as stories repeat themselves and just as we are always embedded in more than one storyline. Each woman carries her own trajectory, yet they remain interconnected. At the same time, architecture is inherently political. The walls that shelter can also exclude. The folding suggests that structures are not immutable. They can bend, overlap, be recognized, and be reconfigured. L&rsquo;O: The exhibition engages deeply with themes of migration, memory, and belonging. In today&rsquo;s fragmented world, do you see utopia as a form of resistance? C&amp;G: <o:p></o:p>Yes, but perhaps not in an overt or declarative way. Many of the women we collaborate with carry complex histories of migration, rupture, and cultural translation. Their identities are not singular or fixed; they are layered, negotiated, and continuously evolving. In a world that often demands clarity and categorization, this multiplicity can itself be a quiet challenge to dominant structures. For us, utopia becomes a form of resistance through imagination. To envision oneself beyond imposed narratives, beyond inherited limitations, is already a political gesture. It questions who defines belonging, who shapes collective memory, and who has the authority to determine what is possible. In fragmented times, imagining alternative futures is not escapism. It is a way of reclaiming space and agency. L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;Your subjects, often young women shaped by displacement, are portrayed with a striking sense of dignity and mythological presence. How do you work with your portraits to arrive at this powerful visual language? C&amp;G: Our process is slow and deeply collaborative. We spend time in conversation long before we begin photographing, allowing trust and shared understanding to develop naturally. The images grow out of dialogue, reflection, and research into both personal histories and the broader cultural narratives that surround them. We do not approach portraiture as documentation. Instead, we construct layered visual environments that allow multiple narratives and temporalities to coexist. Through collage and the use of different techniques and materials such as textile, painting, pattern, and staged elements, we create works where memory and possibility intersect, and where the personal and collective overlap. The sense of mythological presence that often emerges is not something we impose. It grows from the complexity of the women themselves. We want to portray them not as subjects defined by circumstance, but as authors of their own stories, and carriers of narrative, knowledge, and transformation.

Installation view, "Between These Folded Walls, Utopia", Musée Wall House. Courtesy of Cooper & Gorfer.

L&rsquo;O: &nbsp;We were honored to collaborate through our publishing platform&nbsp;UTOPIA FLAGS&nbsp;on a limited-edition artist flag (100 pieces) produced using recycled ocean waste. Flags connects environmental issues with symbolic imagination. How do you see this dialogue between your work and the idea of UTOPIA as both material and metaphor? C&amp;G: There was an immediate and almost poetic resonance in the collaboration. The platform is called UTOPIA Flags, and our project carries the title Utopia. It feels less like coincidence and more like a shared sensibility, a meeting point between two practices already orbiting similar questions. The flag we created depicts a collaged garden from the Utopia series. Gardens hold a lot of layered symbolism. They evoke a romanticized vision of nature, cultivated and composed, yet they also remind us that nature ultimately exceeds our control. It thrives without us, while we cannot exist without it. In that sense, The garden becomes a metaphor for the fragile balance between structure and surrender, endings and beginnings, knowledge and mystery. Producing the flag from recycled ocean waste adds another layer. The material carries traces of environmental crisis, transforming what has been discarded into a symbol of possibility. In that way, the work holds metaphor and matter together. It suggests that imagining another world is inseparable from how we care for this one. L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;The limited-edition UTOPIA FLAGS&nbsp;edition created for this project bears the powerful inscription: &ldquo;KNOWING THAT A WORLD EXISTS OTHER THAN THE ONE WE SEE.&rdquo; Why was this phrase important for the flag, and how does it extend the conceptual universe of&nbsp;Between These Folded Walls, Utopia? C&amp;G:&nbsp;The phrase &ldquo;Knowing that a world exists other than the one we see&rdquo; carries the essence of the project. It speaks to perception, and to the possibility that what we call reality is only one layer among others. On the flag, the sentence is not presented as a headline. It is scattered and partially concealed within the garden image, so that it only reveals itself through attention. You have to look, return, re-orient, and assemble it piece by piece. That felt important. Utopia, for us, is not a declaration. It is an experience of recognition. A shift that happens when the familiar surface begins to loosen, and another logic becomes visible underneath. In the exhibition, we work with precisely this instability: layered identities, porous boundaries, and narratives that do not resolve into a single viewpoint. The inscription extends that universe by making the viewer enact the central idea. It asks for a different way of seeing, and suggests that what seems obvious may only be what we have learned to notice.

L&rsquo;O: Saint Barth&eacute;lemy holds a very particular cultural and geographic resonance. How did this exhibition with&nbsp;Fotografiska come to life here, what connection do you have with the island? <o:p></o:p>C&amp;G: The exhibition came to Saint Barth&eacute;lemy through Fotografiska, who are touring Between These Folded Walls, Utopia and made it possible for the work to be shown at the Wall House Museum in Gustavia. The Wall House is a preserved colonial building from the period when the island was under Swedish rule, a connection that feels especially tangible for us as artists based in Sweden. Presenting a project that reflects on migration and belonging within this specific space creates a powerful resonance. Beyond the building itself, we find the context of Saint Barth&eacute;lemy deeply compelling: an island shaped by layered narratives of connection and displacement, much like the women in our Utopia series. Exhibiting here allows the work to enter into dialogue with that complexity and to acknowledge that questions of belonging, identity, and categorization are never abstract, but always rooted in specific histories and lived realities. L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;Your visual worlds often blur the boundary between reality and fiction. How important is ambiguity in your storytelling? C&amp;G:&nbsp;The boundary between reality and interpretation &ndash; or reality and fiction, if you will &ndash; is blurrier than we sometimes acknowledge. Photography carries this tension inherently. It is often perceived as truthful, yet it is always constructed through countless micro-decisions: from the choice of focus and shutter speed, to the intensity or absence of color and contrast, to the scale and material of the final print, and even to the context in which it is shown. Each of these decisions shapes how the image is read before it ever reaches the viewer. What we ultimately encounter is not reality itself, but a carefully constructed perspective. And once the image reaches the viewer, it is interpreted again. We lean into that tension and extend it. Rather than obscuring reality, we make its constructed nature visible. Our works exist between the real and the imagined. They open themselves to dissection, interpretation, and scrutiny. Ambiguity is essential to our work. We are not interested in providing fixed interpretations or singular narratives. Instead, we create images that hold space for uncertainty and for multiple, sometimes opposing, readings. Ambiguity invites participation. When meaning is not fully resolved, the work remains open. It stops proclaiming and begins asking for attention and emotional engagement. In that openness, it moves away from statement and toward awareness. L&rsquo;O: Finally, in a time when the idea of a shared future can feel fragile, what does it mean today to continue imagining utopia? C&amp;G:&nbsp;We are living in a time marked by uncertainty, polarization, and accelerating change. The idea of a shared future can feel increasingly abstract. And that is why imagination matters more than ever. Imagining gives direction. Nothing has ever come into being without someone first imagining it. The question is not whether we imagine, but who is allowed to participate in imagining, and ultimately in shaping what follows. For us, utopia means refusing to accept that the present configuration of the world is inevitable. It means holding space for complexity rather than simplification, for dialogue rather than division. It is an act of attentiveness: to history, to one another, and to the eanvironments we inhabit. Utopia, in that sense, is not so much a destination as it is a posture: a willingness to remain open, to question inherited structures, and to participate consciously in shaping what comes next.

Opening Night, Musée Territorial du Wall House. Photo: Emily Lab.

<h2>Conversation with Fotografiska<o:p></o:p></h2>
Barbara Garcia, CEO &ndash; Fotografiska Pauline Benthede, Global Vice President of Artistic Direction and Exhibitions&nbsp; &ndash; Fotografiska
L&rsquo;O: Fotografiska has worked with Cooper &amp; Gorfer for several years. When did that collaboration begin? <o:p></o:p>Barbara Garcia: We worked with Sarah and Nina for several shows now. The first one was at Fotografiska Stockholm in 2017, with a large exhibition presenting four major bodies of work created across ten years. L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;The exhibition&nbsp;Between These Folded Walls, Utopia&nbsp;has travelled internationally. How does that fit into Fotografiska&rsquo;s approach? BG: One of the things we love to do is produce exhibitions and give them a life beyond our own museums. Our shows premiere at Fotografiska in Stockholm, Berlin, Tallinn, and Shanghai, but we also want them to travel to other institutions. We put a great deal of care into each exhibition, and we&rsquo;re happy to share our productions with partners in other cities so that more people can experience them. L&rsquo;O: &nbsp;Why did it make sense to bring the exhibition to Saint Barth&eacute;lemy? Pauline Benthede: It was a logical choice for us. Saint Barth&eacute;lemy has a strong Swedish heritage with a long friendship as well as historically complex chapters. The exhibition highlights stories of people who, for various reasons, were forced to leave their homeland to find a new home in Sweden. Moving the exhibition here creates an interesting dialogue with that history.<o:p></o:p>
L&rsquo;O: Fotografiska has a very distinctive philosophy as a museum. How would you describe it? BG: &nbsp;<o:p></o:p><o:p></o:p>We see photography as the most accessible and influential art form, and we use it to advance our mission to inspire new perspectives. At Fotografiska, we want to reinvent what a museum can be. &nbsp;We stay open late so people can come after work and we also have food and beverage spaces where our guests can have a drink and even take it to the galleries and move through the exhibitions. We want to lower the threshold to see art. Our museums are welcoming spaces where you shouldn&rsquo;t feel intimidated by the art. L&rsquo;O:&nbsp;So the museum becomes more of a social cultural space? BG: Exactly. The idea is to create something lively and dynamic, a place where people can come together and experience photography and visual art in a more open way.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p>

About Cooper &amp; Gorfer: In their art, Sarah Cooper (b. 1974, USA) and Nina Gorfer (b. 1979, Austria) interweave reality and fiction. With an imagery reminiscent of fairy tales, Cooper &amp; Gorfer&rsquo;s works are not only startling in their beauty; on the contrary, replete with symbolism they speak about identity, heritage, the environment and experiences that shape us. With the point of departure in photography, their work moves through painstakingly detailed collages away from classical portrait and documentary photography towards an almost painterly feeling, resulting in a harmonious reality that is simultaneously an escape from a world in which we are constantly exposed to trials, oppression, restrictions, personal confrontations or, at times, inhospitable nature. Short info on Utopia: Emanating from the current political reality, Cooper &amp; Gorfer explore Utopia, its ability to be envisioned and who can join. Utopia, stemming from Greek, literally means &ldquo;No Place&rdquo;. Using their continued mastery of space and perspective to create woven realities, it is a body of work about an imagined utopian theatre inhabited by a new diaspora. The project stars a young generation of girls now living in Sweden, whose lives have been influenced by forced migration and what it means to uproot their sense of self. Within a surreal maze and trompe l&rsquo;oeil of walls, gardens and surfaces, this photographic art series plays with the theatrical image of self. Presenting images that mirror a quest for dreams and projected realities, it brings to surface the duality of belonging within the limbo of western aggrandizement. A visual dance between abstraction and figuration.&nbsp; About Fotografiska: <o:p></o:p>Fotografiska is the global destination for photography, visual art, and culture. Guided by their believe that photography is the most influential, accessible and inclusive artform of our times, they are the foremost gathering place for photography and visual storytelling &ndash; with locations in Stockholm, Berlin, Shanghai and Tallinn, and soon Oslo. Each Fotografiska museum serves as a dynamic hub where culture and community intersect, transforming the way audiences engage with photographic and visual art. Founded in Stockholm in 2010 and led by its owner and chairman Yoram Roth, Fotografiska is dedicated to inspiring new perspectives through world-class rotating exhibitions, a global emerging artist program, and dynamic events. More than a museum, Fotografiska creates cultural spaces that celebrate creativity, innovation and diverse artistic voices through the unparalleled power of photography.
 About St Barth &Icirc;le d&rsquo;Art: Founded in 2013, St Barth &Icirc;le d&rsquo;Art has built a distinguished history of organizing museum-quality exhibitions in Saint-Barth&eacute;lemy, having presented works by artists including Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Francesco Clemente, and Andy Warhol at the Wall House Museum. We are deeply honored to add this luminous exhibition to that legacy, and to share Cooper &amp; Gorfer&rsquo;s singular vision &mdash; at once intimate and epic &mdash; with the island&rsquo;s community and its visitors. <o:p></o:p>COOPER &amp; GORFER Between These Folded Walls, Utopia Mus&eacute;e Territorial du Wall House, Gustavia, Saint Barth&eacute;lemy 28 f&eacute;vrier &ndash; 18 avril 2026<o:p></o:p>
@musee_wallhouse <a href="http://www.museesstbarth.com/">www.museesstbarth.com</a><o:p></o:p>

Between These Folded Walls, Utopia: Cooper & Gorfer in St Barth

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