BR1 Exhibition Shows Strangers in Another Light

Another Berlin Gallery Weekend is behind us, but thankfully some of its most interesting artworks and shows are still on view across the German capital. One of them is the BR1 exhibition at Open Walls Gallery, which opened on April 30 to showcase the artist’s latest portraits of Middle East women living in his hometown of Turin, Italy.

The Collisions of Cultures

The exhibition tells about recent encounters between the Artist BR1 and the Stranger coming from the Mediterranean basin or inner Africa. Encounters that occured in Turin, where the Artist lives. “In every encounter, I look for analogies between my culture and the Stranger’s one.” These analogies clarify that we are just individuals who need to live all over the world without any fear. With exceptional strength and beauty, these analogies remind us that everyone is a Stranger in this world.

BR1 Exhibition Highlights – The Soaps of Aleppo

Alongside these paintings, on view at Open Walls Gallery is a unique sculpture titled A Big Question Mark. Why is a sculpture made of 2,000 soaps which arrived directly from the war-ravaged city of Aleppo, Syria, now in Berlin? We don’t know. Certainly these soaps have arrived in EU faster than many people born and raised in Aleppo, who are now still stuck in a limbo between the European borders, as their future stands uncertain.

The stranger arrives with a new dress On View at Open Walls Gallery

Although the Berlin Gallery Weekend is over, BR1’s marvellous exhibition titled The stranger arrives with a new dress will stay on view at Open Walls Gallery through May 28, 2016. This is the Italian artist’s second solo show at the Berlin space, so make sure you stop by and check out his extraordinary portraits!