We Were Here

In We Were Here, Refael Salem presents a series of paintings that explores a longing for distant places that exist somewhere between reality and imagination. The combination of untamed landscapes and youthful figures creates an organic relationship that reflects on the connection between humanity and nature.

While the paintings evoke a romantic sensibility, they also belong to a contemporary painterly tradition shaped by photographic imagery. The landscapes are dense, immersive, and mysterious. At times the young figures assert their presence within them; at others, they seem to dissolve into their surroundings.

The boys appear as children of nature, wandering alone through both physical and psychological landscapes in search of fundamental experiences of the material and the spiritual. Their beauty contrasts with their innocence and vulnerability, raising questions about their awareness of themselves and of the natural world that surrounds them.

The paintings explore the tension between the accessible and the unattainable, as well as between the physical and the metaphysical. Within these wild environments, the figures inhabit a space where everything seems possible, yet one that is also marked by solitude, fragility, and an underlying sense of danger. Through expressive painting and emotionally charged imagery, Salem creates an atmosphere of isolation, curiosity, and quiet mystery.