Sophie Mercedes Köchert

Salzkammergut. Selected II
Francisco Carolinum Linz

A Keen-Eyed Observer of Everyday Life

Sophie Mercedes Köchert (b. Vöcklabruck, 1988; lives and works in Vienna) has dedicated herself to analog photography. Her practice conceives of the documentary register not as an objective depiction but as a subjective approach to reality. Her photographs turn the spotlight on the ostensibly incidental and engage it in dialogue to distill atmospheric narratives.

In the project Salzkammergut SELECTED II, Köchert engages with her native region, the Salzkammergut. Once the favorite retreat of the Habsburgs and urban elites, the area remains one of Austria’s most popular tourist destinations. This is the nexus that Köchert’s work homes in on: her documentary photographs deliberately eschew the motifs one might expect, but without altogether editing out local traditions. Taken together, they limn a multifaceted portrait of the region that defies touristic clichés and idealizing representations. With essays by Eva Schlegel, Elisabeth Schweeger, Maria Venzl, Alfred Weidinger, and Anna Zimm.