Double Take: Photographs in Pairs | Fahey/Klein Gallery

Musée 

July 7, 2026

by Kara Bischopink 

Photographs, when standalone, often hold immense meaning; however, when paired together, they open new visual worlds and ideas. In exploring the power of compositions between images, Double Take: Photographs in Pairs, brings together photographs that share visual similarities despite originating from different times, cultures and artistic intentions. On view until July 18th at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles, the exhibition brings together over 20 pairings of photographs that each, by themselves, hold varying meanings individually but together build a completely different story. As such, each pairing suggests how identical visual structures can carry such different social, political and emotional meanings.

Across 20 photographic pairings, the exhibition brings together the works of Miles Aldridge, Diane Arbus, Harry Callahan, Patrick Demarchelier, Walker Evans, Mary Ellen Mark, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn, Paolo Roversi, Steve Shapiro, Bastiaan Woudt and more. Together, the exhibition brings new life and breath to each photograph, allowing each of them to be seen in a different light. From Patrick Demarchelier’s editorial portraiture to Walker Evans’ documentary precision, each pairing reveals the unexpected affinities from slight gestures and forms, to similar geometry and moods that transcend era and genre.

With each pairing, the different works reveal how form, geometry, posture and system can be shared and can travel across time and culture. Through this, the exhibition interrogates the boundaries between similar and different, creating a site of friction where sameness opens up a field of differences. Placing the images side by side, the photographers are then put in conversation as they communicate their similarities that work to sharpen their differences and vice versa. In doing this, the act of looking transforms into an act of discovery as it shows how images can mirror, challenge and reimagine each other across time and culture.

Seeing double has never been more true than stepping into the gallery space, as each pairing brings a new life to each photograph, where double is both true and not. Opening the exhibition, Walker Evans’s “Parked Car, Small Town Main Street, 1932” and Lauren Greenfield’s “Mijanou and Friends from Beverly Hills High School on Senior Beach Day, Will Rogers State Beach, 1993” act as if looking through a mirroring portal of differing times. Two moments become suspended within each other, shimmering against each other’s proposed meanings. Mijanou and other friends drive from Beverly Hills High School on senior beach day in 1993, awaiting the thrill and freedom of the shoreline. In comparison, Evans’s parked convertible sits within the quiet restraint of Depression-era America; the two figures’ faces look puzzled as the world flashes in a blur behind them. Set together, their energies contrast, one restless and one restrained, yet both carrying a similar silhouette.

In another pairing, Patrick Demarchelier’s “Christy, New York, 1991” and Bastiaan Woudt’s “Revolve, 2026” both capture striking geometric clarity as each sculpt the body into a study of line, curve and controlled elegance. Demarchelier’s portrait captures Christy Turlington adorned with a dramatic, white flower headpiece that is framed by the sharp silhouette of a cream architectural gown that captures the precision of early ‘90s fashion photography. In comparison, Bastiaan Woudt mirrors the same distilled and refined geometrical precision as his monochrome minimalism reduces a figure to her simple form. A dramatic black circle balances in a similar notion as Demarchelier’s flower; a geometrically sharp black gown creates a soft pulse of correspondence and echo to Turlington’s silhouette. Together, they drift into alignment, their forms connecting as they linger, return and subtly remake each other.

With each pair, Double Take reveals how photographs speak to each other and how art consists of echoes of form, gesture and geometry that can bridge decades, genres and intentions. Within this mirrored space, the photographs heighten each other's impact, complicating their initial thoughts and impressions, ultimately expanding upon one another. Through this, the exhibition reveals the fluidity of photography as it continues to be framed and reframed through varying lenses.