Søren Solkær: Sort Sol

"Sort Sol" featured recent work by Danish photographer Søren Solkær (b. 1969). Solkær established his career in the early aughts with penetrating portraits of legendary performers Björk, Metallica, Paul McCartney, the White Stripes, Amy Winehouse, and many others. The subjects of the photographer’s present work are music makers of another sort.

Solkaer's Sort Sol is a photographic series that studies the murmurations of starlings. The Danish term "sort sol” refers to these murmurations, the forms of which temporarily obscure the sun. A “murmuration” is the form made by a flock in flight. The word derives from “murmur,” or the soft sound of the starlings’ flight calls and fluttering wings as they move together midair. Starling murmurations take myriad forms—from abstract to representational, and Solkær has captured this phenomenon across Europe since 2017. Occurring before dusk in the spring and fall months, the mysterious act may function as an open call to join the evening roost and provide protection against predators. While Solkær’s "Sort Sol" series celebrates this curious occurrence of shape-shifting starlings, it also pays homage to landscapes as subject matter in European paintings and Japanese woodblock prints. Featuring over 50 photographs and video art, "Søren Solkær: Sort Sol" is the first exhibition of this series in a US museum.