#womenartists - A project by, with and for women

Art is particularly important in times of crisis. Crises force us into a kind of soul searching in which artists develop their visions, feelings, questions and answers. We cannot simply trust the world as we know it. It reveals its shortcomings. But art produces arguments, critical views and emotions. The artistic realization of our expression helps us to keep our feet on the ground through thoughts and perspectives. In this project, I portrayed and interviewed different women artists to find out how they got through the crisis of the pandemic and how they grew through the difficulties. #womenartists aimed to recognize the power that lies dormant within us, no matter how hard life can be at times. Experiences, worries, hopes and ways out are shared and show that we can draw a big strength from our intellectual and creative freedom.

The series #womenartists

I wanted to know how women artists are doing during and after the Covid-19 pandemic. Locked in their houses, not meeting friends, no exhibitions, no artist mingling. I took the portraits of female artists during the third Corona lockdown in France, in March and April 2021. We didn't have a choice: we could only see each other online, with all connection and pixel errors, no touch, no smell, no feelings, only a cold picture.

So I asked the women to join me for short meetings on Zoom or Skype and took their portraits from the computer screen in virtual meetings. Therefore, the pictures are blurred, out of focus, remote. My aim was to convey the weird feeling of seeing people in a digital setting, our new reality for a very long time.

But then life came back, and the women artists are stronger than ever. Their art superposes their troubles. I also asked them to share their thoughts and feelings about the lockdowns and their sources of energy. They shared long interviews and I selected some key answers.

I realized the exhibitions in two forms:

1. Exposition in Nuremberg, Germany, July-September 2022: art gives us strength. I symbolized this by superposing the BW portraits of the womenartists with pictures of their respective artistic creations.

2. Exposition in Nice, France (twin city of Nuremberg), September-November 2022: the portraits remain in BW but are framed with emblematic golden frames.

On the meaning of the golden frames

Due to the restrictions during the pandemic, the women artists felt as reduced as the picture in the lush golden frames symbolize: they almost disappeared. The frame surpasses the effect of the picture and stands for itself. It not only accentuates or supplements the portrait, it threatens to swallow the content in its power and radiance.

At the same time, the golden frames give each portrait a sublime effect. They captivate with a golden look helping us to keep smiling. In church paintings, the golden glow symbolized the divine paradise. In the pandemic we created a paradise world by immersing ourselves in our art and now emerging from it stronger. We bravely stay within the given or self-chosen framework of art, creativity, work, family that also gives us stability and support.

Each frame has a long story - just as the women of the project look back on their life stories. A larger frame only symbolizes size on the outside. In all cases, the picture of the women measures uniform Din A4. Diversity and equality: Art cannot be compared and evaluated. The images are not integrated into the background with passe-partouts. 

The golden ground is the symbol of our privileged circumstances. But old paintings, writing and colours shimmer through the applied golden paint. Life consists of many layers, which together form the basis for the image that appears on the outside.

Through the wonderful power of our art, we can rise out of the frame from the golden ashes in old strength and continue to live our creative power more creatively and enthusiastically than ever.