Jean-Luc Mylayne: Reflection

Jean-Luc Mylayne has devoted his life to philosophical questions about our place on Earth—questions for which birds and their natural habitats serve as both subject and symbol, and through which he probes what it means to be human alongside nature.

– Jean-Luc Mylayne N° 353, Novembre Décembre 2005, 2005

Made in close collaboration with his life partner, Mylène, each photograph is the result of months of patient work, a sustained investigation into temporality, perception and community.

Sprüth Magers is pleased to present Reflection, a solo exhibition of Mylayne’s work, on the occasion of Berlin Art Week. The majority of the images on view were conceived during a residency in Marfa, Texas, where Mylayne was drawn to the intense shades of blue found in the water and sky, and sometimes in the birds themselves. Reflection, the title of this exhibition, speaks to the contemplation that Mylayne’s work invites, centred around the question how human beings might truly coexist with the natural world.

Mylayne’s titles follow an invariable, archival logic: numbered chronologically and stating only the months and year of production, they make no reference to location or species. Time, they insist, is the fundamental dimension of his work, not the creatures within it. As critic Lynne Cooke has observed, he “abjures a romantic identification with his appealing subjects” while also refraining from casting human and animal as opposites within their shared domain.[1] Reflection, the title of this exhibition, speaks to the contemplation that Mylayne’s work invites, centred around the question how human beings might truly coexist with the natural world. 

Hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm 

Runtime: Fri, 11/09/2026 to Sat, 24/10/2026

Takes place here:

• Sprüth Magers