Nominated for the Aperture-Paris Photo Photobook Awards, and winner of the 17th edition of the Foam Paul Huf Award, 2023 was a successful year for Felipe Romero Beltrán, who also starts 2024 with a bang as he presents this inspired solo exhibition at Amsterdam‘s Foam.
Entitled Dialect, the exhibition captures the journey of nine young Moroccan men after there after their arrival in Spain following a perilous journey by sea. A powerful pièce de resistance against the complex and arduous journey of those who have been displaced, in Dialect, Beltrán sheds light on issues such as alienation and social inequity of migrants in today’s society.
Documenting the young adults for a period of three years, the exhibition is divided into two parts beginning with the group of immigrants having recently crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, trying to settle in Seville while their legal status is being reviewed. Finding themselves in a void, estranged from the familiarity of their home country and separated from a new society they can’t take part in, the boys patiently await clearance of their legal status. The photographs explore different experiences, where the body enters into dialogue with memories and the time spent during their wait in Spain. Alongside his photography, the exhibition will showcase a video recording and include an installation as a response to the inaccessible paperwork this legal process brings along.
A migrant himself — the artist hailing from Colombia and living in Paris — the photography series recalls his own experiences to guide his vision and to treat his subjects with sincere affection. Displaying a powerful humane manner in his practice, Felipe Romero Beltrán’s Dialect is an important document of humanity in a time where immigration is a deeply contentious topic the world over.
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All Photography, © Felipe Romero Beltrán.
