The Alienation of the Familiar – Ways of Approaching the Relationship between 

Human and Nature, 2021-22

photography series, installation, video performance

 

The background of the work is the hypothesis that the relationship between human and nature is characterised by an interplay of closeness and distance. On the one hand, there is a deep connection to nature on a mental, emotional and physical level. Nature is not only connected to personal experience and one‘s own biography, it is also part of our collective memory and identity.

On the other hand, over the period of time, humans have increasingly appropriated nature, dominated it and distanced themselves from it. In the context of current issues – the age of the Antrophocene and climate change – the desire for a renewed approach is being expressed through experienced feelings of decline and longing. Within the framework of the project, a space of remembrance should be created. The narration of individual and collective stories of alienation from and familiarity with nature is the essence of the artistic process, which is reflected in various media and made perceptible to the senses. It is about (re)construction processes of identity, history and the human image of the relationship to nature. 

 

Initially, an archival collection was created, systematised along the lines of historical cabinets of curiosities, combining found objects from the fields of nature, human and memory in order to make the collective visible in the individual, combining both:personal and unfamiliar objects.In an installation, these objects appear freely combined and open up space for interactions and connections. At the end objects are appropriated performatively in staged photography or appear as relics in still-life-like ensembles. Central are the acts of 

(re)sensing and preserving as well as the visualisation of paradoxes in the relationship. The photographs are complemented by a performance video work with scenes of thematic associations.