A new group exhibition titled *A Kind of Paradise: Colonial-Era Photography in Contemporary Art* has opened at Museum Rietberg in Zurich, featuring twenty artists from the diasporas of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Oceania. The show examines how colonial-era photography was used as a tool of mythmaking and objectification, and presents contemporary artworks that reinterpret, critique, and heal the scars left by these historical images. The exhibition is organized into four thematic sections—'Shapeshifters,' 'Confrontation,' 'Care,' and 'In the Photo Fantastic'—each exploring different strategies for recovering silenced narratives and challenging dominant colonial perspectives.
This exhibition matters because it addresses a critical gap in art history: the role of photography in shaping and perpetuating colonial narratives. By bringing together artists who actively reconstruct erased histories and center marginalized voices, the show offers a model for how contemporary art can engage with traumatic archives in a reparative way. It also contributes to ongoing global conversations about decolonizing museums and visual culture, making it a significant intervention in both art historical scholarship and public discourse.