Jessica Backhaus by Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea

JESSICA BACKHAUS

JESSICA BACKHAUS Toyota, 2016, C-print/Diasec 160 x 217 cm

Jessica Backhaus was born in Cuxhaven, Germany in 1970 and grew up in an artistic family. At the age of sixteen, she moved to Paris, where she later studied photography and visual communications. Here she met Gisele Freund in 1992, who became her mentor. In 1995 her passion for photography drew her to New York, where she assisted photographers, pursued her own projects and lived until 2009. Jessica Backhaus is regarded as one of the most distinguished voices in contemporary photography in Germany today. Her work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. To date, seven publications to her name; Jesus and the Cherries, 2005, What Still Remains, 2008, One Day in November, 2008, I Wanted to See the World, 2010, ONE DAY- 10 photographers, 2010, Once, still and

photographs are in many prominent art collections including Art Collection Deutsche Bรถrse, Germany, ING Art Collection, Belgium, Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA and the Margulies Collection, Miami, USA. Jessica Backhaus is represented by Robert Morat Galerie in Berlin, Galerie Anja Knoess in Cologne, Petra Becker/ International Art Bridge in Cologne, Petra Becker/ International Art Bridge in Frankfurt, Robert Klein Gallery in Boston, Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia, MiCamera Gallery in Milan, Stieglitz 19 Gallery in Antwerp and Wouter van Leeuwen Gallery in Amsterdam.

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Singing in the rain, 2015, C-print, 51x 34cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Unfolding, 2015, C-print, 122 x 85 cm | Piece of Berlin, 2015, C-print, 51x 34cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Following, 2014, C-print, 41 x 28 cm | What Matters, 2015, C-print, 51x 34cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Flashdance, 2014, C-print, 122 x 85 cm | Us, 2015, C-print, 51x 34cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Alte Liebe, 2015, C-print, 51x 34cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Promising, 2014, C-print, 51 x 76 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Dolomiti, 2014 | Chapters, 2015 | Drei , 2015, C-print,34 x 51 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Lightbulb, 2014 | Radiergummi, 2014 | Little Lady, 2014, C-print,34 x 51 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Like the wind, 2013, C-print, 51 x 76 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Switzerland, 2014, C-print, 71 x 97 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Spielen, 2015, C-print, 28 x 41 cm | Slide, 2014, C-print, 51 x 76 cm | Six degrees of Freedom, 2014, C-print, 51 x 76 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS | Hope, 2015, C-print, 71 x 97 cm | I Wonder, 2015, C-print, 51 x 76 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS Missing, 2014, C-print, 51x 76 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS Nordsee, 2015, C-print, 71 x 87 cm

JESSICA BACKHAUS Up North, 2015, C-print, 85 x 122 cm

Six Degrees of Freedom

"Jessica Backhaus examines, with her latest photographic series six degrees of freedom, universal questions of human existence. Based on her own life story she inquires after the significance of knowing the roots of one's own existence and to what extent it is possible to re-elaborate these – usually prescribed– roots. Initially unconsciously, then ever more purposefully the photographer, who grew up in a family of artists, at some point in her life set off in search of her own background. On this journey she visits places of her childhood and youth and fills the gaps in her memories. With her photographs she symbolically captures the essence of this search and of her life stages. Simultaneously, she pulls off the balancing act of keeping the images open for the beholder. Her photographs possess metaphoric potential and work against the grain of a classic social documentary photography. They alternate between realism and abstraction.

Jessica Backhaus analisa através da sua série fotográfica Six Degrees of Freedom , questões universais da existência humana. Com base na sua própria história de vida e tomando bem presente a importância de conhecer as raízes de sua própria existência, a artista questiona em que medida é possível re-elaborar as nossas raízes obtidas à partida. De início de uma forma inconsciente, mas depois cada vez mais de um modo mais propositado, a fotógrafa, que cresceu numa família de artistas,num determinado momento da sua vida parte em busca das suas próprias raízes. Nesta viagem a artista visita os locais de infância e juventude, preenchendo lacunas nas suas memórias. Com estes trabalhos, ela capta simbolicamente a essência tanto desta pesquisa como das fases de vida por que passou . O espectador recebe as imagens abertas, directas e destituídas de equilíbrio. As fotografias possuem potencial metafórico em contraposição à fotografia documental tradicional, alternando o realismo com a abstração.

In Six Degrees of Freedom Authors: Caroline von Courten, Lars Mextorf, Jessica Backhaus Artist: Jessica Backhaus, Publisher: Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg/Berlin Hardcover: 22,8 x 27,4cm, 112 pages, 64 color and b/w ills, English/German 2015

In Six Degrees of Freedom Autores: Caroline von Courten, Lars Mextorf, Jessica Backhaus Artista: Jessica Backhaus, Editor: Kehrer Verlag, Heidelberg/Berlin Hardcover: 22,8 x 27,4cm,112 páginas 64, ilust. cor e p/b, English/German 2015

JESSICA BACKHAUS Views from the exhibition I wanted to see the world at Clervaux, Luxemburg, 2016

Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea Rua Joly Braga Santos, lote f r/c 1600-123 Lisboa | Portugal carloscarvalho-ac@carloscarvalho-ac.com www.carloscarvalho-ac.com

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