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Tyler Mitchell at the MEP: an exhibition that redefines contemporary visual narratives

Colour portrait of a person sitting cross-legged on a white surface. They are wearing a cream and red checked top and blue jeans. Their hands are resting in front of them, with a bracelet and ring visible. The person is looking slightly to the right, with a calm expression.
Tyler Mitchell

From 15 October 2025 to 25 January 2026, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) is dedicating a major exhibition to Tyler Mitchell, the young prodigy of American photography.

Entitled Wish This Was Real, this installation brings together nearly ten years of creative work and offers a fresh perspective on the beauty, freedom and self-determination of Black communities.

Mitchell, born in Atlanta in 1995, quickly established himself as one of the most influential figures of his generation.

Après la Tisch School of the Arts, il devient célèbre en 2018 en photographiant Beyoncé pour la couverture du Vogue US, première Une signée par un photographe noir. 

A decade of brilliant, political and poetic creativity

The exhibition presents a body of work combining photography, video, sculpture and textiles, reflecting Mitchell’s desire to explore new, sensitive and engaging visual worlds. The artist explains:

“I try to portray black people in a true and pure way. I hope there is an honest perspective in my photos.”

Wish This Was Real se structure en trois grands chapitres qui révèlent la cohérence et la puissance de son œuvre.

VLives / Freedoms: celebrating youth and joy

The first part of the exhibition draws inspiration from skateboard culture and the visual aesthetics of Tumblr, where Mitchell forged his first images.

Against a backdrop of racial tensions and Black Lives Matter, these photos offer bubbles of utopia, camaraderie and emancipation.

Colour photograph showing a person standing between two large yellow curtains pulled apart. She is posing with one foot on a small wooden stool, wearing a blue and green gradient jacket, white trousers with black spots, and black boots. In the background, a painted backdrop depicts a wooded landscape.
Tyler Mitchell, Curtain Call, 2018 Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian © Tyler Mitchell

These performances are acts of resistance as much as they are celebrations. They show black youth in all their dignity, creativity and humanity, far removed from media clichés.

Postcolonial / Pastoral: a reinvention of the landscape

In this section, Mitchell revisits the codes of pastoral landscape, a tradition often idealised and disconnected from history. The artist inscribes a vivid memory of the land, made up of romanticism, injustice and reinvention.

Inspired by Toni Morrison, Seurat, Kerry James Marshall and Julie Dash, he creates scenes where black subjects finally regain a central place in nature.

Textile works complete this section, introducing a new material and memorial dimension to his practice. The fabric, suspended or stretched, becomes a poetic medium where intimate stories and collective narratives overlap.

Family/Fraternity: intimacy as gentle resistance

The final section explores the domestic sphere as a place of memory, heritage and reaffirmation of identity. Supported in 2020 by the Gordon Parks Foundation, Mitchell pays tribute to one of the great chroniclers of Black American life.

In Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, he photographs his loved ones, celebrating family rituals, simple gestures and everyday elegance.

Indoor photograph showing two women seated in front of a large mirror decorated with carved wood. One, wearing a light-coloured dress, sits upright and adjusts her hair, while the other, seated beside her, observes her reflection. Around the mirror, numerous framed antique portraits are arranged on a piece of furniture, along with decorative statuettes and a lamp. The atmosphere evokes an intimate space steeped in family history.
Tyler Mitchell, Ancestors, 2021 © Tyler Mitchell

These images embody his ambition: to reinvent the visual representations of a community that has been confined to unambiguous narratives for too long.

A seductive, precise and deeply political contemporary aesthetic

With bold colours, carefully studied gestures and meticulous staging, Mitchell composes each of his images like a modern painting. His work engages in dialogue with fashion, art history and the avant-garde, while conveying a deeply contemporary sensibility.

Gentleness becomes a weapon for him, a gesture of resistance, a means of imagining alternative, possible, desirable ways of being.

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FAQ

Who is Tyler Mitchell?

Tyler Mitchell is an American artist, photographer and filmmaker born in 1995. He explores the representation of black people through poetic, political and luminous images.

What does the title ‘Wish This Was Real’ mean?

It reflects Mitchell’s desire to create visual worlds where freedom, beauty and black self-determination are fully expressed.

What are the main themes of his exhibition?

Major themes include: youth and freedom, postcolonial landscape, family memory, intimacy, black utopia, and positive representation.

Why is Tyler Mitchell famous?

He became world famous in 2018 when he photographed Beyoncé for the cover of US Vogue, the first cover shot by a black photographer.

Where can you see the exhibition “Wish This Was Real”?

At the MEP, 5/7 rue de Fourcy, Paris 4th arrondissement, from 15 October 2025 to 25 January 2026.