YASMIN NEBENFÜHR
LISTEN LIKE THIEVES
Opening reception:
Friday 03 October 18.00 – 21.00
Photographs: Ivo Nedyalkov
Nebenführ’s practice is rooted in photography, with a focus on the material qualities and transformations of the image. For this exhibition, she presents a body of work that takes reversal film as both material and subject. These films, damaged by time and chemical processes, no longer reproduce the clarity of their original motifs. Instead, they reveal unpredictable surfaces: mottled textures, painterly hues, and fragments of once-recognizable forms. In their altered state, they oscillate between image and abstraction, between document and invention.
From this unstable ground, figures and objects begin to emerge: fragments of busts, vessels, and artifacts that seem at once ancient and spectral. They suggest archaeological finds or museum displays, but also resist fixed categorisation. Each image holds traces of history while refusing to deliver a complete account, leaving the viewer suspended in a space of uncertainty.
The works are presented as lightboxes made of wood, transforming the photographic fragments into luminous objects. The glow from within heightens their dual character: fragile documents of entropy, yet sculptural presences that command the gallery space. This form of presentation underscores Nebenführ’s ongoing interest in the status of the image not as a transparent record, but as an active site of transformation.
Listen Like Thieves invites reflection on memory, cultural heritage, and the shifting narratives attached to objects over time. The title alludes to the politics of collecting and withholding, evoking how artifacts often change hands under unequal conditions, and how histories are shaped by acts of loss, appropriation, or erasure. In this way, the exhibition addresses the instability of archives and the persistence of questions around cultural ownership.
By foregrounding decay as both material condition and conceptual framework, Nebenführ highlights the inevitability of transformation. The dissolution of the photographic emulsion becomes an allegory of impermanence, reminding us that every attempt at preservation is provisional, and that meaning is constantly rewritten in the face of time.
Listen Like Thieves marks Yasmin Nebenführ’s first solo exhibition in Sofia.
Special thanks to Mark Stroemich.
Годишната ни галерийна програма е подкрепена от Национален Фонд "Култура"- програмa "Създаване" 2025
Yasmin Nebenführ is an Australian photo-media artist based in Berlin, Germany. Engaging with themes of entropy, the passage of time, decay, and macro and micro locations; her experimental practice incorporates digital and analogue techniques to present abstract imagery. Predominantly working with extensive collections of found imagery, Yasmin utilises her archiving work experience throughout her practice and constantly seeks new ways to transform and re-present images and their narratives.
Yasmin is a 2016 graduate of RMIT’s Bachelor of Fine Art, where she majored in Print Imaging Practice. Currently, Yasmin works for Berlin art institutions and facilitates photography workshops surrounding the archive and its potential.
EDUCATION
2016 - B.A. Fine Art (Print Imaging Practice), Graduated with Distinction RMIT University Melbourne
AWARDS
2024 - Recipient, ShowOFF, Krakow Photomonth Festival
2017 - Recipient, CLICK ’17 Photography Award, Brunswick Street Gallery
2017 - Finalist, Capture Yarra Photography Competition
2017 - Recipient, RMIT Lightbox Project
2016 - Recipient, RMIT School of Fine Art Photography Award
2016 - Finalist, Australian Contemporary Art Award
2014 - Finalist, Muswellbrook 24th Annual Photographic Award
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
45.5 x 66.5 x 10 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm
UV Print on Film, Wood, Lighting
48.5 x 33.5 x 9.5 cm