ROB RITZENHEIN

Presence Exhibition Introduction

The exhibition introduction is a piece that gives a bit of shared context to a collection of artwork. In our case, our exhibition contains unique works from individuals without a shared theme.

The design began with the dutch angle at 17 degrees (the total number of students in the program), a reference to the challenges of introspection and visual communication in unfamiliar spaces. Most of us are not from Barcelona. Our hard work was fueled and tested by learning to exist in a new culture.

Shapes were built on the intersecting points of original leading lines. The colors were lifted from works within the exhibition, some of which are featured within the "prism".

I want to thank Madeline Mulkern for her collaboration on the design, Anna French for her poetic text, and Carly Yon for her translation assistance. Prism photographs from clockwise top left by Daniel Alzate, Madeline Mulkern and Carly Yon.

"Presence gathers the inner worlds of sixteen photographers, each work contributing to our lives as individuals holding a distinct way of seeing, yet united as one through a shared desire to give form to a story, a feeling, a dream, or something in between.

The exhibition takes its title of Presence not to unify our projects thematically, but to hold us together in time and space; photographers from across the world, gathered briefly through a shared sensitivity to the world and the practice of noticing. At its core, the exhibition returns to the simple idea of connection, through images and traces, to discover what is seen and what remains out of reach.

Presence resonates with the notion of “in yun”, a beautiful Korean term describing the invisible thread of fate that binds people across lifetimes. It suggests that encounters are never entirely accidental, but are shaped by unseen histories accumulated over each passing life. To meet someone with deep “in yun” is to feel an unexplainable familiarity, as if our souls remember each other before our minds do.

In this sense, Presence becomes not just an encounter between viewer and image, but a meeting of inner worlds. Meaning is not delivered, but formed slowly in looking, in seeing, and in attention.

A space where the intricacy of another's life may be noticed, even for a moment. Thank you for your presence.

Students of the Elisava Master in Photography and Design 2025-2026"