Susanne Brodhage

Outwards

Seen from the Horizon

Susanne Brodhage’s (b. Munich, 1962; lives and works in Berlin) art explores experiences of spaces and space as a visual construction. Recurring physical actions are correlated with concepts in photography.

Brodhage’s chosen setting in the series Outwards is a small island, a steep volcanic cone towering over the sea. To photograph the residents of this remote habitat, she travels by foot to the homes scattered across the island. In a recurring photographic setting—the individual to be portrayed stands at the edge of the flat roof, their back to the sea—the photographer tries to make eye contact. Each shot includes a section of marine horizon in the background, recording the integral element of the work; all portraits are aligned so as to form a single continuous virtual horizon line.

Outwards gathers a hundred solo portraits of men and women, presenting them both as individuals and as anonymous representatives of a diversified social structure. Arranged in pairs matched solely on the basis of outward features of attire or posture, the constellated pictures also gesture toward algorithmic methods of systematization, raising questions concerning contemporary perceptions of space in relation to pattern recognition. With an essay by Hanne Loreck.