Cooper & Gorfer

Gonzalo's Sister, 2017From the series ‘I Know Not These My Hands’

Cooper & Gorfer Biography Sarah Cooper (b.1974, US) and Nina Gorfer (b.1979, Austria) have been collaborating since 2006 and work in Sweden. Their work centers around themes of illusion, memory, and dislocation, illustrating the malleability of identity through layered pictorial collages of the female experience. Their work at times can mirror 18th and 19th century paintings, with images of distinct reference to history, myths, and cultural heritage. Cooper & Gorfer’s work range from physically layered collages with painted and embroidered materials, to photographs of disassembled images with different states of ephemeral montage. They reimagine the tradition of portraiture by visually examining and deconstructing the narrative layers of those they portray. Cooper & Gorfer state, “We share a deeply rooted interest in the female story and how our experiences and socio-cultural background influence our sense of self. Our work strives to articulate the unapparent and the hidden desires we hold dear, paying tribute to the many layers of life and memories that shape us.” When We Are Giant, is a series of works that blurs the lines between painting, collage, and photography. Colossal female figures explode from their frames, challenging perceived notions of femininity by asserting the right of the female body to occupy space, both figuratively and literally. With a point of departure in photography, their work ranges from physically layered collages with painted and embroidered materials, to photographs of disassembled images in different states of ephemeral montage. Like art history’s Mannerists and Surrealists, Cooper & Gorfer strain observable reality through a filter of memories, moods, and wounds. In the series, I know Not These My Hands, the work deals with the traces a troubled history leaves on the human mind. Based on comprehensive research travel to northwestern Argentina, Cooper & Gorfer map memory and investigate questions of identity and displacement through change encounters, interviews, and photographic meetings. Reflections on colonial wounds, forced migration, and more recent political turmoil surface throughout the project. A major institutional exhibition of their work opened in March 2020 to inaugurate the Fotografiska Museum in New York. Additional selected recent exhibitions include The Weather Diaries, Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, Estonia (2020); Interruptions and The Weather Diaries, Rosphoto, St Petersburg, Russia (2018); Interruptions, Árran, Lulesamisk Senter, Drag, Norway (2018); A Queen Within, NOMA New Orleans Museum of Art, USA (2018); I Know Not These My Hands/Interruptions, Strandverket Konsthall, Marstrand, Sweden (2018); The Weather Diaries, American Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, USA (2017); I Know Not These My Hands, Fotografiska, Stockholm, Sweden (2017); The Weather Diaries, Nordic Heritage Museum, Seattle, USA, Danish Cultural Center, Beijing, China (2016); The Weather Diaries, National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen, Denmark (2014). In 2018, Cooper & Gorfer were the winners of the prestigious German Photo Book award for their monograph I Know Not These My Hands.