[UN]Apparent worlds
The overlooked as an artistic principle characterizes my work. Botanical fragments, organic finds and ephemeral materials are removed from the context of their everyday insignificance and transformed into new visual structures. Seed capsules, plant remains, insect wings and inconspicuous everyday objects – materials to which hardly any intrinsic aesthetic value is attributed – are condensed in her miniature assemblages into pictorial spaces between nature, memory and imagination.
The series of works [UN]scheinbare Welten deliberately moves between the poles of visibility and invisibility, familiarity and irritation. Even the title bears this ambivalence in itself: the bracket around “UN” shifts perception between apparent casualness and hidden meaning. What at first appears to be a delicate observation of nature turns strange, morbid or playful on closer inspection. It is precisely this tilt between recognition and alienation that forms the actual subject of the works.
Methodologically, I move between collage and assemblage. Materials are not only arranged, but placed in physical and conceptual relationships. The scale is central here: the small format demands concentration, proximity and slowed vision. Looking closely becomes a prerequisite for developing the work.
In this attitude, my works tie in with the tradition of the Wunderkammer – not as a natural history classification system, however, but as a poetic counter-taxonomy in which chance and composition stand side by side on an equal footing. Nature appears here neither as a romantic ideal nor as a mere image, but as a fragment, trace and carrier of memory.
At the same time, the work is in dialogue with a contemporary form of romanticism – not as a nostalgic return to the idyll, but as a search for connection in an increasingly rationalized and accelerated present. The focus is on the overlooked, the fragile and the seemingly worthless. This creates spaces for projection, memory and new meanings. The conscious focus on small things is also a counter-design to the permanent sensory overload of our time. While digital streams of images demand speed, the [UN]apparent worlds insist on slowness, proximity and close observation. Insight is not gained through size or volume, but through attention.
All works are created as unique pieces in my studio in Bad Pyrmont and are presented individually in high-quality object frames with low-reflection museum glass. Their intimate dimension demands a direct encounter – proximity becomes a prerequisite for perception and insight.
