“Ungeliebte” Frauenbilder

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“Ungeliebte” Frauenbilder

“Unloved” — Images of Women

(Text by René Dietz Lingnau)

“Unloved” — Images of Women is a series of 13 photographs rooted in a range of motifs. Each has an individual woman. Each binds itself to representative archetypes.

“Unloved” is drawn from diametric elements within the rubric of love. Self-love. The anonymity of persons with love divorced of symbols and symbolism. And the abstraction of “love through symbols”. The women of “Unloved” — Images of Women form a story told in contrasts.

Does “Unloved” — Images of Women intend that the viewer should not appreciate these women? No. These images of women show some individuals who are unloved. Some address women who should not be loved. Or to portray the paradigm of “having to be loved as a woman”; growing more ineffectual as the apparent pressure of this “having to be loved” builds. “Unloved” — Images of Women also shows a contrast between male attributed symbols represented by a woman. Whether they are really unloved is left unresolved. Even the act of “external definition” is called into question by this series. Ultimate judgement is left to the woman within the scene.

The 13 motifs in “Unloved” — Images of Women, each show a woman. These individuals grow, break down, suffer, turn away. Often their dignity is revealed only through body language. The subjects face is obscured. As a result, she seems isolated, withdrawn, turned inward. A question arises: can a portrait of a woman without a face convey love – or is it precluded? This points to a further extension of the thesis statement – where is love embodied, when it is kept out of the frame? This intensional void is an integral mechanism of this series and is on the same level as the photographic display.

Within the composition, Christian and archetypal symbols mingle with, and are contrasted against, the women. On another level, the symbols themselves must bear comparison to these women. Through this reflection, the symbols will gain or lose significance. The symbols can become unloved or powerless if they are too superficial. They can get a portion of this power back, albeit in an alienated form.

The series was created in Leipzig and was first publicly exhibited in Berlin, MONAT DER FOTOGRAFIE OFF Berlin im Forum für zeitgenössische Kunst Berlin e.V., Torstraße 111, October 2018.

Date: 2018
Tags: Fine Art, Black and White

Testimonials & References

Kunsthaus Torstraße 111, Berlin Monat der Fotografie-OFF Berlin 2018