The next Artist You Need To Know is Cornelia Hediger.
Hediger was born in Switzerland but lives and works in New York City. Her works not only mine art history but also the history of photography with an eye towards contemporary conversations around the latter. Often referencing significant artworks and artists from the history of art, Hediger’s work has an unsettling quality as her figures – often within the sphere of self portraits – are eerie but engaging, with a performative element that is alternately amusing and uncanny.
“From the moment I picked up a camera, at university, I started to point the lens at myself. Immediately, it was clear to me that the camera was a tool to document my own emotions, my internal landscape, and my inner life. While the broad context of contemporary life has shaped me as an artist, memories originating in personal experience and family history are what influence and drive my work most of all.”
The images below are from the series Homage : this “is a series of handmade photomontages that were inspired by figurative master paintings created throughout art history – moments in the western canon. My love for the particular presence of master paintings, combined with my own interest in photography, provided a starting point from which to explore. I then created reinventions, re-masterings, working through my personal sensitivity and engagements as an artist. Photomontage allows me to translate the paintings into new environments.” (from here)
Hediger was born in Switzerland and obtained a BFA and MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in the United States.
The images below are from The Doppelgänger series. The words of the artist : these “are pictorial narratives that explore internal human emotions, notions of the uncanny, the subconscious/conscious mind, the ego and the alter ego. The narrative structure itself is based upon and utilizes the concept of the Doppelgänger—specifically as understood within Germanic literature. In this context, the notion of the Doppelgänger is understood as a ghostly double or apparition of a living person, widely assumed to be sinister and a harbinger of bad luck, but also highly ambiguous, thus presenting a psychological dilemma. The central characters themselves, are enacted by the artist herself, within claustrophobic and timeless spaces.”
More about The Doppelgänger series can be seen here.
She has exhibited widely, including at Wallspace Gallery (Seattle, WA, USA); Anita S. Wooten Gallery (Orlando, FL, USA); PS122 Gallery and the International Center of Photography (both in NYC); Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore, ML, USA), Rutgers University (New Jersey, USA), Gallery Del Mese-Fischer in Switzerland, Limilight9 Gallery (Halifax, NS, Canada) and the Massachusetts College of Art (Boston, MA, USA).
Hediger has also been recognized with a number of significant awards, most notably being named to PDN’s 30: Emerging Photographers to Watch (2009) and earning a Silver Award at the 2016 Tokyo International Foto Awards. Her images have appeared in publications like New York Magazine, HotShoe, Vision Magazine, Photography Quarterly, Photo+ and Phat Photo.
A more extensive listing of her exhibitions and accomplishments can be seen here.
The selection of images below are from the larger series titled OHNMACHT : more of this work can be seen here.
“Hediger’s images are complex narratives investigating human emotions, the inner life, alter ego, and sexuality. The breakdowns of the frame into distinct sections, while related, are fractured and express the troubling of self-introspection. As Hediger explains, ”my images… explore more complex narratives, and exploring my inner conflicts, fears, and joys, therefore, became a possibility as well.” Possibility is the power, the unknown, the mystery and the ultimate attraction of Cornelia’s work.” (from an interview with the artist that can be read here)
The series below is titled Into The Vortex.
“I have always been interested in creating my own reality. I look for and create places and environments that seem removed from specific times and places.”
More of her artwork can be enjoyed at her site here. There also links to articles and interviews that will add further depth to an understanding of her work there.