Sibylle Fendt _:* Portraits of Artists

About

„We should all be feminists.“ (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author)

Musician Peaches sits enthroned in front of a group of black dressmaker’s dummies thrown together, photographer Katharina Bosse lies in a bathtub in red light, as if in a darkroom, author Hengameh Yaghoobifarah leans back in an armchair in a tight-fitting dress, dancer Oska Borcherding performs on a flat roof, the Berlin skyline in the background, and actress Bettina Hoppe simply stands in her living room.

Since 2021, Berlin photographer Sibylle Fendt, herself a member of the renowned agency OSTKREUZ, has been portraying artists, actors, authors, musicians and filmmakers. She skilfully transfers the traditional genre of artist portrait into the modern age with her medium-format camera and analogue film material: in bright colours, large-scale, simple or playful, using double exposures and deliberate staging, she explores the work of artists of different generations and backgrounds with sensitivity and great intensity. Her work began with an examination of the role of women in the art world. Thus many of those portrayed are united by the fact that feminism and the breaking open of traditional gender roles play a central role in their live and occupation. Sibylle Fendt, however, does not want to place womanhood at the centre of her work, but rather a feminist positioning. “My pictures depict personalities, not genders!” says the photographer.

_:* Portraits of Artists provides a unique insight into the variety and diversity of contemporary artistic practice and introduces us to its representatives, who all too often operate away from the limelight.