I have always appreciated a thick book, one in which you completely immerse yourself, living in an alternative universe born from the imagination of a creator. And if the story has several volumes, even better, because the pleasure continues even after you close the cover. You already know that new episodes and ideas or other worlds to discover are coming. Maybe that is why I was instantly attracted to this book strategy, extended to the exhibition field. Especially in a group exhibition with two curators, Charles Moore and Alex Radu, who created a story and the expectation that it will continue.

“Wet Snow” is the second part of the “Notes from Underground” project, which complements the open conceptual direction inscribed in the larger “The Thin Thread Line” series, run by / SAC throughout 2025. First, it encourages you as a viewer-visitor to reconsider an exhibition as a better articulated and more visible product. To make an effort in time and space, to remember works and artists’ names, and to think about how you felt when you saw an exhibition. To check if, in a few months, the feelings are there or if something has changed, grown, or vice versa. An exhibition with a story and a longer expiration date than other similar projects makes you work for what you see. The challenge is also among the team that must remain equal to itself in terms of curatorial decisions, architectural solutions and exhibition design.

“Wet Snow” gives you the feeling of being back at the counter of the socialist unit, where your personal problem is equally important as that of the other 100 people patiently waiting in a line in front of you. And as that of the 101st participant, who has no problem, just wants to ask a question, so he goes in front of everyone. A group exhibition always means a mixture of energies, but also a subtle form of artistic cannibalisation, because the artists feed off each other’s strength, images and ideas. Although there are many works with powerful stories in “Wet Snow”, I stopped at a single image, a portrait that has stayed with me, waiting for a sequel: the photograph of a little boy with snow-white skin, whose gaze is cast downward, but whose presence has a magnetic and disturbing light for his young age.

Photographer Anna Bedyńska explores, in her series WHITE POWER, the vulnerable and unconventional beauty of people living with albinism. Her project starts from a simple and radical question: what does authentic beauty actually mean? In a world that edits, corrects and imposes almost unreal aesthetic standards, Bedyńska chose to bring to light exactly those faces that society hides. And to give them the strength and beauty that every person deserves.

Few people know that people with albinism often live in the shadows — not only because of their sensitivity to light, but also because of the discrimination and prejudice that have dogged them for centuries. In some parts of Africa, superstition has even put their lives in danger; in Europe, they often become invisible.

Anna Bedyńska places them in front of the camera as if on a stage, not to exhibit them, but to give them a space to assert themselves. Around her project, the artist managed to coagulate a small community of people with albinism in Poland, people who, wanting to become her models, had the opportunity to get to know each other and learn about each other. Bedyńska calls them from time to time, tells them about the places their portraits travel to, about the reactions they arouse.

As a visitor, if you get the hang of this story, you realize that it’s not just about the works, but about a type of energy that circulates between them. Each image seems to send you to the next, each detail demands a return. Moreover, when you leave, you don’t have the feeling of an ending, but of a pause between chapters and a story that continues to be written.

“WET SNOW” [/ SAC Berthelot, Bucharest, 02.10-30.11.2025]. Artists: Carlos Amorales, Simona Andrioletti, Andrius Arutiunian, Justin Baroncea & Cristian Matei, Yael Bartana, Anna Bedyńska, Gisela Colón, Nicolae Comănescu, Iulian Cristea, Suzana Dan, Dimitrie Luca Gora, Dumitru Gorzo, Rusudan Khizanishvili, Ayoung Kim, Miler Lagos, Charmaine Poh, Buket Savci, Bosco Sodi, Mircea Suciu, Philip Topolovac, Jorinde Voigt. Curators: Charles Moore & Alex Radu. Design and exhibition architecture: Justin Baroncea, Maria Ghement & Alexandra Müller