Chrysalis, is an exhibition of new works by Tyler Mitchell which has just opened at Gagosian, in central London, on Davies Street. Opening October 6, it’s the gallery’s first solo exhibition of works by Mitchell, and his first in London.

Mitchell’s photographs and videos explore themes of beauty, innocence and hope, through youthful models staged in various bare settings. Photographed in the US and London in 2022, the images, often surreal and poetic, focus on Black history and Black figures.

Collectively, these moments become figments of an imaginative psychic state of being, one in which radiance, resistance, restraint, comfort, and full human agency exist.
—Tyler Mitchell

Chrysalis presents images of Black men and women in idyllic states of leisure and repose, safe and unencumbered by social expectations. In a photograph that shares its title with the exhibition, a young man sleeps on a blanket-covered bed, within the protective cocoon of a mosquito net. A Glint of Possibility represents a figure on a tire swing suspended above the surface of a lake, frozen in perfect equilibrium. Treading shows a boy’s head emerging from the same lake as a large bunch of balloons floats in the image’s center.

Juxtaposed with these images of subjects in harmony with nature are smaller photographs in which men are represented wading, swimming, and struggling in muddy water. From the mud-covered figure in The Heart to the cleansing currents of Distillation and muddy footprints of Tenderly, these works picture individuals affected by clashing elemental forces. As such, they assert the need to remain vigilant and resilient in the face of historical prejudice and unfulfilled commitments.

Mitchell’s work is featured in The New Black Vanguard, an exhibition curated by Antwaun Sargent that will open at Saatchi Gallery, London, on October 28, 2022.

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Images: Chrysalis, 2022 © Tyler Mitchell.