Twenty years after the groundbreaking exhibition reGeneration, Photo Elysée reaffirms its commitment to emerging artists with Gen Z – Shaping a New Gaze. The new exhibition brings together 66 artists from around the world, born between the mid-1990s and 2010 — a generation that questions norms, challenges established codes, and redefines its place in a rapidly changing world.
Through intimate narratives, diverse identities, reimagined family ties, and a sensitive engagement with body and gender, Gen Z offers a multi-voiced reflection on the present. The participating artists articulate their need for representation and their desire to be heard in an increasingly unstable global context.
Of particular interest are the many works by students and graduates of ECAL (École cantonale d’art de Lausanne), whose projects powerfully demonstrate how this generation shapes new visual languages while merging social engagement with aesthetic experimentation.
Conceived as an immersive experience, the exhibition guides visitors through the themes and questions that define this generation. It is structured into four chapters, each offering insight into the hopes, struggles, and visions of young people who express themselves creatively, think critically, and continually reinvent their world.
1. Mapping a Sense of Belonging
This opening chapter explores the idea of home as the foundation of identity — both a place of refuge and of tension. Through archives, memories, inherited traumas, and new forms of living together, the artists examine how personal and collective identities are formed and transformed. A sensitive reflection on what it means to belong.
2. Shifting Realities
Looking beyond domestic space, the artists turn their gaze toward a world marked by political, climatic, and social upheaval. Their works speak of exile, instability, and resilience. As certainties collapse, ecosystems deteriorate, and migration increases, the concept of “home” becomes fragile. The pieces reveal the tension between rootedness and displacement.
3. Beyond the Mirror
Long understood as the core of identity, the body here becomes a site of transformation. Many members of Generation Z question gender norms and stereotypes. In their images, they give form to emotion and explore mental and spiritual spaces. The body becomes a language that makes the invisible visible.
4. Multiplying Perspectives
The final chapter interweaves questions of race, history, and culture. By reclaiming their own narratives, the artists challenge dominant modes of representation and develop new visual expressions. Photography becomes a tool for resistance and change, inviting us to reconsider how we see the world.
A companion publication will be released by Éditions Textuel (Paris), featuring a foreword by journalist Salomé Saqué.
Artists:  Delali Ayivi (TG/DE, 1996), Chloé Azzopardi (FR, 1994), Hidhir Badaruddin (SG, 1995), Daveed Baptiste (US, 1997), Clara Belleville (FR, 1996), Sara Benabdallah (MA, 1995), Jeremy Chih-Hao Chuang (TW, 1997), River Claure (BO, 1997), Thaddé Comar (FR/CH, 1993), Matthieu Croizier (FR/CH, 1994), Sara De Brito Faustino (PT/NL, 1999), Alina Frieske (DE, 1994), Claudia Fuggetti (IT, 1993), Florian Gatzweiler (DE, 1998), Sascha Levin (DE, 2000), Devashish Gaur (IN, 1996), Valerie Geissbühler Pacheco (CH/PE, 1999), Toma Gerzha (RU, 2003), Mahalia Taje Giotto (CH/IT, 1992), Salomé Gomis-Trezise (FR/GB, 1999), Lea Greub (DE, 1998), Pia-Paulina Guilmoth (US, 1993), Marvel Harris (NL, 1995), Thembinkosi Hlatshwayo (ZA, 1993), Lorane Hochstätter (CH, 2001), Ben Hubert (GB, 2002), Francesca Hummler (US/DE, 1997), Matej Jurčević (HR, 1995), Lisa Karnadi (ID, 1997), Nur Aishah Kenton (SG/GB, 1998), Mayssa Khoury (LB/US, 1997), Ahmed Khirelsid (SD, 2001), Maria Kniaginin-Ciszewska (PL, 1998), Jude Lartey (GH, 2000), Phu’o’ng Nguyên Lê (VN, 2002), Quil Lemons (US, 1997), Yun Ping Li (ES, 1998), Margaret Liang (CN, 1998), Vuyo Mabheka (ZA, 1999), Isabella Madrid (CO, 1999), Luna Mahoux (BE, 1996), Gabriela Marciniak (PL, 1996), Dimakatso Mathopa (ZA, 1995), Sara Messinger (US/DE, 1998), Steven Molina Contreras (US, 1999), Cheryl Mukherji (IN, 1995), Noyan (CH/TR, 1999), Daniel Obasi (NG, 1993), Alice Pallot (FR, 1995), Laurence Philomène (CA, 1993), Soyeohang Rai (IN, 2001), Carla Rossi (IT, 1999), Emma Sarpaniemi (FI, 1993), Rachel Seidu (NG, 1997), Fatimazohra Serri (MA, 1995), Suwa Shin (KR, 2000), Charlie Tallott (GB, 2000), D. M. Terblanche (ZA, 1998), Agate TÅ«na (LV, 1996), Varvara Uhlik (UA, 1997), Farren van Wyk (NL/ZA, 1993), Tianyu Wang (CN, 1997), Ziyu Wang (CN, 1998), Sophia Wilson (US, 2000), Zhidong Zhang (CN, 1996) und Andong Zheng (CN, 1992).
GEN Z – SHAPING A NEW GAZE
19. September 2025 – 1. February 2026
Photo Elysée
elysee.ch