Ein Augenblick im Niemandsland
Curated by Kathleen Rahn
Marta Herford, Herford
6 May – 13 August 2023

Since the early 1980s, photographer and filmmaker Annette Frick (*1957 in Bonn, lives in Berlin) has been portraying scenes of subculture and historically charged places between poetic expressiveness and political metaphor. Marta Herford is hosting the artist’s largest museum exhibition to date.

Among the portrayed figures are personalities beyond the populist mainstream, including icons of the drag scene who have been influential in shaping contemporary transgender identity, such as Vaginal Davis or Mario Montez,Tima the Divine, Ovo Maltine, Bev Stroganov, Juwelia Soraya, ZsaZsa Hollywoodlawn and many others. Despite the rather documentary-looking black-and-white photography, Frick creates moments that make the familiar atmosphere between her and her protagonists palpable. This also applies to her nude self-portraits, which deal with themes of representational culture and identity in a way that is as uncompromising as it is sensitive. Her flair for staging, the great matter-of-factness and authenticity with which she works can also be traced in the film works. In addition to her work photographing Berlin’s changing landscape and various subcultures, Frick ran project and exhibition spaces and published book series called Jenseits der Trampelpfade (Beyond the Beaten Paths). This firmly anchored her in an artistic network that was in constant exchange.

Photos by Hans Schröder