At the centre of the photographic work of the Austrian artist Gerlinde
Miesenböck stands principally the construction of cultural identity
in relationship with the familiar/home and the strange/foreign
country. In a world increasingly in a state of change Miesenböck is
interested in the way identities are negotiated anew as well as in the
wide-spread manner of perception of travel. She reacts to places by
visualizing them or turning relationships with them into pictures.
Using herself as an example she keeps trying to comprehend the
challenges of that which is strange and as a consequence fails due
to ingrained preconceptions of specific geographical areas and of a
foreign language. The medium of photography interests her above all
because of the social conventions connected with its use and form.
At the centre of Miesenböck’s oeuvre are the social and economic
changes in rural life. Her most recent completed work “Heritage”
takes up the theme of “family”. As an institution the family is in
a state of flux and politically problematic. In all this the single
personality seeks his/her own possible identities. Miesenböck
questions transmitted values, inherited traditions, the way that
family heirlooms and photographs are dealt with. On the other hand
inherited objects are retained out of a sense of obligation. Rooms
that are no longer lived in find a new use. For example, the withered
plants of the younger generation now living in the cities are nursed
back to life again in Grandfather’s kitchen after his death. On the
other hand however Grandmother finds comfort in faith and in
embroidered maxims which however are regarded with a sceptical
eye by her grandchildren. Miesenböck counteracts the private objects
with a strict formal language in which anonymous individuals are
given ambivalent roles.
Gerlinde Miesenböck studied at Manchester Metropolitan University,
England, the University of Art Linz, Austria and at the Lappland
University in Finland. While she mostly lives in Linz, she spends
much time in foreign countries in order to gain experience of being
a stranger.
www.gerlinde-miesenboeck.com |
DE
