Gideon Mendel

Drowning world

Ground Control

Drowning World explores the human dimension of climate change by focusing on floods across geographical and cultural boundaries. Rather than the literal depiction of disaster zones, Gideon Mendel focuses on the personal impact of flooding to evoke our shared vulnerability to global warming. Since 2007, Mendel has documented floods in 13 countries. The Submerged Portraits series are intimate portraits of flood victims. Their poses may seem conventional but their context is catastrophe, and their unsettling gazes challenge us deeply. The marks left by floodwater, especially in domestic spaces, are the focus of the Floodlines series, which presents the paradox of order and calm within chaos. The Watermarks series consists of enlargements of flood-damaged personal snapshots, sometimes anonymous flotsam fished from the water or mud, sometimes given by homeowners.

Exhibition curator: Mark Sealy.
Prints by par Metro, Spectrum, and Kristian Buus, London.
Wallpaper by Picto, Paris.
Framing by Plasticollage and Circad, Paris.