Surreal portraits imagine new future for young female migrants

Editor’s Note: Cooper & Gorfer’s show “Between These Folded Walls, Utopia,” at Fotografiska in New York City, has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, with a new opening date yet to be confirmed. “Interruptions” features grand, dignified portraits of several generations of Sámi women that emphasize the beauty and complexities of their heritage; the artists note in the project that, through colonization, “fundamental characteristics of a people such as its culture, language and traditions are also dismantled and eradicated.” In “My Quiet of Gold,” made from 2006 to 2011, the artists embedded themselves in the rich history of Kyrgyzstan’s folktales, asking their subjects in the Central Asian country to relay, then reenact the stories they grew up with. Cooper & Gorfer They didn’t travel abroad for “Between These Folded Walls, Utopia,” but instead collaborated with young women who had fled to Sweden from countries including Somalia and Iran during the recent European migrant crisis. “It took me a long time to remember and to love myself again.” In front of Cooper & Gorfer’s lens, these women are transformed.