Imagines et Umbrae
The virtual exhibition Imagines et Umbrae brings together 34 photographic works by Josef Volsa from the ongoing body of work Artis Umbrae. Across three rooms, body, shadow, historical script and those invisible forces that shape posture, desire and decision encounter one another.
The first room leads through the cycles Habitus, Sub Rosa and Corpus Scriptum. The band, the rose and Kurrent script written onto the body become vehicles of social order, hidden states, memory and language.
The second room is dedicated to the Septem Vitia Capitalia, the seven deadly sins. The cycle is complemented by the individual works Axis Mundi, Sedens and Corpus Captum. These works understand pride, greed, envy, anger, lust, gluttony and acedia not as moral labels, but as human states between desire, vulnerability and loss of control.
The third room presents Judith as a complete cycle of nine works. The biblical figure does not appear as an illustration of a familiar story, but as an image of autonomous decision. The sequence moves from an inner calling through awareness, separation and resolve to the shadow that remains after an irrevocable act.
The works have been deliberately arranged in their order, scale and spatial relationships. Please allow time for the tour and for the spaces in between – the empty walls are part of the exhibition as well.
Entering the exhibition
The start screen of the virtual gallery is displayed in German. The button “Zur Ausstellung” means “Enter the exhibition” and allows you to explore the gallery freely. The button “Geführte Tour starten” means “Start guided tour” and begins an automatically guided visit.
For a first visit, the guided tour is recommended. It presents the works in their curated order and preserves the context of the individual cycles. Afterwards, the gallery can be explored freely and individual works revisited.
The exhibition contains artistic depictions of the unclothed human body.
Professional enquiries
If the exhibition has sparked your interest, I welcome enquiries from galleries, curators, exhibition venues and other cultural partners. I am also pleased to provide collectors with information on available works, limited editions, formats and presentation options.
Conversations concerning gallery representation, exhibition projects, curatorial collaborations, publications and selected artistic commissions are likewise welcome.