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Archive
Petra Wittmar. Medebach
Photographs 1979 - 1983
Photographs 1979 - 1983
The works on show form a documentation of Medebach in the Sauerland, the town where the photographer Petra Wittmar was born. As well as shots of houses, streets, small squares and landscape details, the long-term project also includes photographs of interiors, reflecting the life of the relevant occupants. What is not included, however, are actual portraits of people.
The essence of Petra Wittmar's project is a study of structures and the development from village to small town life. The photographer's interest in the subject was awakened when the town where she grew up started to change and 'modernize' in the 1970s. A town with historical character acquired indistinctive and interchangeable features. But no sooner had new standardized building regulations and ideas of taste been embraced than the first signs emerged of a nostalgic backlash and provincial individualism. The result was an aesthetic divide and cultural and social clashes raising questions of identity.
Petra Wittmar presents her subjects in calm, collected shots taken in reduced lighting conditions; her objective, matter-of-fact visual idiom works down to the last detail. The quality of this series of photographs – which might be seen as a German response to the American New Topographic movement – resides in a pronounced formal stringency and systematic refusal to transfigure the subject. Herein lies a link with the photography of Henry Wessel and Lee Friedlander, both of whom are very much concerned with the 'social landscape’.
Born in 1955 in Medebach, Petra Wittmar studied photography at the Folkwang School in Essen. Since then, she has worked as a freelance photographer on projects focused on early 20th century European architecture and urban and suburban space. Petra Wittmar lives in Essen.
The exhibition “Petra Wittmar: Medebach 1979 – 1983” (Room 2) coincides with the exhibitions “Henry Wessel” (Room 1), “Lee Friedlander: The American Monument” (Room 3) and “August Sander: The Siebengebirge” (Room 4).
An exhibition catalogue is being published by Steidl Verlag.
The essence of Petra Wittmar's project is a study of structures and the development from village to small town life. The photographer's interest in the subject was awakened when the town where she grew up started to change and 'modernize' in the 1970s. A town with historical character acquired indistinctive and interchangeable features. But no sooner had new standardized building regulations and ideas of taste been embraced than the first signs emerged of a nostalgic backlash and provincial individualism. The result was an aesthetic divide and cultural and social clashes raising questions of identity.
Petra Wittmar presents her subjects in calm, collected shots taken in reduced lighting conditions; her objective, matter-of-fact visual idiom works down to the last detail. The quality of this series of photographs – which might be seen as a German response to the American New Topographic movement – resides in a pronounced formal stringency and systematic refusal to transfigure the subject. Herein lies a link with the photography of Henry Wessel and Lee Friedlander, both of whom are very much concerned with the 'social landscape’.
Born in 1955 in Medebach, Petra Wittmar studied photography at the Folkwang School in Essen. Since then, she has worked as a freelance photographer on projects focused on early 20th century European architecture and urban and suburban space. Petra Wittmar lives in Essen.
The exhibition “Petra Wittmar: Medebach 1979 – 1983” (Room 2) coincides with the exhibitions “Henry Wessel” (Room 1), “Lee Friedlander: The American Monument” (Room 3) and “August Sander: The Siebengebirge” (Room 4).
An exhibition catalogue is being published by Steidl Verlag.
February 2 - May 5, 2007
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EXHIBITION PREVIEW Room 2: |
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EXHIBITION PREVIEW Room 3: |
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ON TOUR Karl Blossfeldt et les naturalistes du pays de Montbéliard
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