The Uneasy Poetry of Photography

Yuz Museum presents Songs for the Sun, the first solo exhibition in China of Norwegian photographer Torbjørn Rødland, one of the most radical voices in contemporary photography. His images unfold like scenes from a disturbing dream: luscious food placed in surreal contexts, models caught in awkward poses with vacant stares, portraits imbued with the solemnity of a religious ritual. Everything feels both familiar and unsettling, sweet yet disturbing. Remaining faithful to analog photography in the digital age, Rødland still relies on film and darkroom processes to preserve the physical weight of the image. This choice becomes a statement of intent: a reminder that photography is not just instant consumption but also time, matter, and anticipation.
The exhibition spans over twenty years of work, from his early explorations of advertising codes and pop culture to his restrained landscapes, where spectacle is avoided in favor of a fragile balance between normalcy and anomaly. Songs for the Sun is a poetic enigma, a visual journey that dismantles certainties and leaves us suspended between attraction and unease.