The exhibition is the first chapter of an investigation into two main dimensions of light as the essential foundation of photography: as revelation, whose excess or absence can unveil hidden visions, and as mystical light, linked to spiritual and political revelations. Lightseekers presents artistic practices in dialogue with the “dry light” of deserts and the “humid light” of forests, through the lenses of five contemporary artists, from West Asia to the Amazon, highlighting the similarities and dualities between the cosmopolitics emerging from these regions.

Claudia Andujar unveils a genocide, while Christo Geoghegan and the Pariacaca Collective’s works deconstruct European explorers’ stereotypes, offering new visions inspired by amazonian ceremonies, often demonized by the Catholic Church. Smith and Hoda Afshar root their works in the desert, engaging with its luminosity as well as arid nature, creating narratives of hermetic life, rituals of fasting and states of trance and meditation.

Through images of memory and images of oblivion, the exhibition highlights the crucial role of awareness and knowledge in resisting erasure. This resistance creates an opportunity to connect history with the present while rethinking the complex interactions between technology, culture, and identity. Protecting a deeply human secret, one that no artificial intelligence will ever truly understand, Lightseekers calls for a reimagining of humanity by reintroducing the imaginary and the mythological into our understanding of what it means to be human.