Pol Taburet Summons Mythic Tales of Silence

Moments of heavy silence suffuse Pol Taburet’s debut German solo show, ‘The Burden of Papa Tonnerre’, at Schinkel Pavillon in Berlin – the second in a three-part series of exhibitions that began in March at the Pabellón de los Hexágonos in Madrid and will conclude at the Bienal de São Paulo later this year. 

An assembly of five bronze heads (Papa and Soldier, all works 2025), with pinched facial features and sealed mouths, rest atop rectangular plinths. They are encircled by a series of four large-scale paintings depicting ghoul-like figures engaged in spiritual ceremonies. The exhibition text introduces the legend of Papa Tonnerre, a mute figure weighed down by the secrets of others, who gains speech through a deal with a witch. Unable to bear the emotional burden of his knowledge, he breaks his silence – and is exiled for the confessions he reveals. Although never directly depicted, Tonnerre – a character inspired by Creole oral tradition – haunts every work, eliciting an attentiveness to what is left unspoken.

The painting And we all danced to the bully’s beat shows two cloaked figures lingering around a central spokesperson who holds court atop a tablecloth-covered podium. Dressed in a pointed black hat – a recurring motif in the artist’s oeuvre – the protagonist’s skeletal arm awkwardly juts out from his side while his faint facial features only just cohere. Taburet uses an airbrush to achieve this hallucinatory effect, contrasting the delicacy of the translucent mist, cast across the faces of his subjects, with the heavily layered impasto comprising their clothing and the backdrops. Departing from his previously vibrant palette – informed by his Caribbean background – Taburet turns here to more brooding tones: moss greens, graphite greys, deep blacks. The result is a muted plane from which his figures subtly emerge then retreat.

At times, this formal consistency can feel repetitive, with motifs such as the pointed hat and the tablecloth cycling from one painting to the next. While this reiteration creates a cohesive visual language – offering symbols of spiritual significance, such as ceremonial attire and a designated meeting place – its predictability occasionally undermines these elements’ symbolic weight and resonance.

A suite of 12 black and white lithographs depicting a nightmarish hunt occupy a small adjacent room (Papa Tonnerre’s tales). Locked in a struggle for survival, hybrid creatures attempt to escape the confines of the page, fleeing any tangible narrative the viewers might impose. The artist’s loose mark-marking effectively captures the dissolution of reality. Shifting between liberation and subjugation, the scenes echoe Tonnerre’s moral dilemma.

Towards the far end of the upstairs gallery, a large wood-panelled structure resembling an elongated witness stand acts as a support for The Nest: two identical but inverted sculptures of animal hybrids with long, pointed beaks and winged ears. While their bodies rest atop the wooden prop, their heads dive downward, directing silent accusations at the figure below – an otherworldly being submerged from the nose down in a small coffin-turned-dining table (My Dear II) – the show’s closest embodiment of Tonnerre. With beige felt panels covering the gallery windows, sealing in all light and sound, the environment reinforces the metaphorical burden of his narrative, asking visitors to reflect upon the weight of their own voices and the consequences that can arise from making them heard. What remains is stillness: a room suspended from the outside world; a place where judgement, be it human or spirit, comes to gather. During my visit, the only sound I hear is the loud footsteps of a fellow visitor. He looks at me as if he might apologize, but instead, for fear of breaking the silence, fails to open his mouth. 

Pol Taburet’s ‘The Burden of Papa Tonnerre’ is on view at Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, until 13 July

_{Main image: Pol Taburet, Because he spoke, 2025, acrylics, alcohol-based paint and oil pastel on canvas, 2 × 2 m. Courtesy: the artist and Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo, Brussels, Paris, New York; photograph: Frank Sperling}