Bettina von Zwehl: Meditations in an Emergency

Bettina von Zwehl: Meditations in an Emergency January 17 — March 7, 2020

Catherine Edelman Gallery is honored to present Meditations in an Emergency, Bettina von Zwehl's latest portrait series inspired by the teenage die-ins that were staged shortly after the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Von Zwehl presents seventeen portraits of New York City teenagers (the result of the first artist-in-residence at the New York Historical Society) in the classic silhouette profile, describing the photographs as death masks sculpted from life. These seventeen portraits honor the number of victims of the school shooting on Valentine's Day, 2018, and serve as a testament to the endurance and practice of protest and teen activism. Presented in a small quiet room on the gallery's lower level, Meditations in an Emergency offers viewers a moment to reflect and think about the power of protest.

Bettina von Zwehl was born in Munich in 1971 and received an MA from the Royal College of Art (RCA), London, in 1999. She has built her international reputation on subtle and distinctive photographic portraits.

As her practice has developed, she has continued to seek out different ways of exploring the form; from her early works, most often defined by the exacting conditions she imposed on her subjects, to her most recent projects which reprise the tradition of the painted portrait miniature of both, people and dogs.

Her ongoing pre-occupation with the miniature was inspired during her six months as Artist in Residence at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2011.

Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at a number of leading European and American museums and galleries including the Sigmund Freud Museum (Vienna, 2016) Freud Museum (London, 2016), Fotogaleriet (Oslo, 2014) National Portrait Gallery (London, 2014), Centrum Kultury Zamek (Poznan, 2011), Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood (London, 2009), The Photographers’ Gallery (London 2005) and Lombard Freid gallery (New York, 2004).

Her photographs are held in the collections of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Mint Museum, Charlotte, North Carolina; Victoria and Albert Museum, Arts Council Collection, London; The National Portrait Gallery, London; the Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida; and Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco.

Bettina von Zwehl lives and works in London.

Meditations in an Emergency images are available as 11 ½ x 15" gelatin silver prints made in an edition of 7 + 2 AP. Pieces are $4800 framed.

Please call: (312) 266-2350 for prices of specific pieces.
Prices are print only unless otherwise indicated.