Solange Jungers' Poetic Photography at Fundació Bardolet
Nestled in the serene, cobblestone streets of Valdemossa, a village steeped in artistic history, the Fundació Coll Bardolet provides a fittingly contemplative space for a unique photographic voice. This summer, the foundation presents the evocative work of French artist Solange Jungers, whose practice delicately stitches together memory, narrative, and the beauty of the imperfect.
The exhibition space itself is part of the experience. The Fundació Bardolet is dedicated to the legacy of the Catalan painter Josep Bardolet i Rogero, who captured the light and landscapes of Mallorca for over five decades. Housed in a traditional Valldemossa stone building, the foundation offers a intimate dialogue between contemporary art and the island's rich cultural heritage, making it an ideal sanctuary for Jungers' introspective work.
Solange Jungers is no ordinary photographer. She brings a profound intellectual depth to her art, holding a PhD in Art History and Archaeology from the prestigious Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Her diverse background—spanning academic research, cultural mediation at the Centre Georges Pompidou, and even running her own fashion brand, Ilapludepuis—informs a practice that truly "oscillates between literature and visual arts."
Born in 1974, Jungers is fascinated by the stories images hold, and more importantly, the stories they fail to tell. Her primary medium is the orphaned photograph: personal snapshots, family portraits, and images rescued from garage sales, deliberately stripped of their original identities. From these anonymous fragments, she invents new narratives that are often poetic and deeply dramatic.
Jungers has a particular tenderness for the rejects of the family album—the bad prints, the blurred shots, the awkwardly framed moments that were never deemed worthy of preservation. These are the photos "which would say more than those officially registered in the family novel," she suggests. In these flawed images, she finds a raw truth, a glimpse of the moments just before or after the perfected pose, the unedited record of life that could not be erased, only set aside.
As the French painter Anne Poitrenaud astutely observes, Jungers' work creates "beautiful contrasts... which reveal the tragedy even in the party, in a theatrical look at life." This tension between celebration and underlying sorrow is palpable in her compositions.
One of the most distinctive aspects of Jungers' art is her physical intervention on the photographs. Using the delicate art of bobbin lace, she meticulously "mends" torn photos. This act is both literal and metaphorical. The lace becomes a visual representation of the stories she weaves around the images, a fragile repair that acknowledges the breaks and losses of the past while creating something entirely new and beautiful. It is a poignant fusion of craft and concept, where a traditional technique gives voice to silent, forgotten moments.
For anyone visiting Mallorca with an appreciation for contemporary art that challenges and enchants, this show is an essential stop. It is a quiet yet powerful conversation between artist, artifact, and the historic walls that contain them.
Where: Fundació Bardolet, Valdemossa, Mallorca
Why Go: To experience a unique blend of art history, narrative storytelling, and delicate craft that transforms forgotten photographs into profound artistic statements.
