Introduction

With Annette Kelm (*1975 Stuttgart), the Kestner Gesellschaft introduces a significant artist who advances the photographic approach of the Düsseldorf School, associated with figures such as Bernd and Hilla Becher, Candida Höfer, or Thomas Ruff, while simultaneously being connected to the conceptual art of the American West Coast. Encompassing still lifes, portraits, landscape, and architectural photography, Kelm creates unique visual worlds of modern everyday culture, employing the means of object photography. Objects are staged in isolated forms with uniform illumination, thereby acquiring new meanings.

The exhibition titled "Leaves" at the Kestner Gesellschaft showcases around 40 works, predominantly photographs from the last four years. Annette Kelm arranges diverse subjects such as straw hats, flowers, musical instruments, patterned textiles, artist colleagues, or architecture in balanced compositions. The ordinary, inconspicuous, or simple is questioned by placing her subjects in new and unusual contexts. Often, she exposes the artificiality and construction of an image, simultaneously deconstructing compositions to analyze our perception and vision.

Working frequently in series and utilizing repetition strategies, Kelm explores typologies and conventions of perception. Examining the object world, she reveals the historical, social, and societal contexts in which these objects exist. Her conceptual approach is never rigid; there always resonates a poetry within the analytically constructed images. Furthermore, Annette Kelm repeatedly references the medium of photography itself, delving into the history of its aesthetics and techniques.