Alex Bex. Look Again

September 9th - October 24th, 2025

GABY VERA GALLERY

Calle de Fernández de la Hoz, 30. Madrid. Spain

First solo exhibition in Spain by French-American photographer Alex Bex. The exhibition brings together a selection of key works from the internationally acclaimed Memories of Dust project, in which the artist subtly and profoundly challenges the archetypal image of the American cowboy, not only with the aim of documenting rural life in Texas, but also of exploring and generating new ideas about masculinity: less rigid, more empathetic, somewhat more realistic and accurate.

In Memories of Dust, Bex takes on the role of both photographer and active spectator, participating in the daily lives of various groups of cowboys to capture their routines, vulnerabilities and contradictions from within. This closeness allows him to expose the cracks in the stereotype, portraying cowboys not as heroic figures hardened by the desert dust, but as complex, sensitive and deeply contemporary human beings.

"The myth of the West that the visual media sells us does not correspond to the real stories I encounter in my travels," Bex explains. "I enjoy exploring the gray areas of the cowboy stereotype: traditional masculinity, cultural mythology, as well as its contradictions and silences. What interests me is that tension between what we think we know and what is really happening". 

ABOUT ALEX BEX

Born in 1993, Alex Bex is a French-Texan photographer based in Berlin. His work explores the impact of popular visual media on traditional representations, focusing particularly on masculinity and its social construction. Through his photography, he engages with the cultural narratives he grew up with in order to study and question them. As a self-taught photographer, Alex frequently participates in the film and music industries for advertising purposes. These experiences have increased his interest in the power and complexities of media representation in his work. Recently, his project Memories of Dust won the Booooooom Photo Awards in the portrait category and it was also selected as a finalist in the documentary category of the 2025 Sony World Photography Awards.

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