Sub Rosa
Birthe Piontek
Kominek Gallery
English
Softcover
16 pages
150×120 mm
2008
Sub Rosa reminds us of a time, a stage in one’s life which could not have been more intimate, and nevertheless exists as a romanticised blur in our mind today. No period in life is so comprehensively enriched with emotions, frustration and high expectations as the stage between our youth and adulthood. Adolescence, the loss of prolonged innocence and the desire to belong and to be different at the same time, seems to be an unconquerable obstacle in the journey of discovering our identity.
The portraits show teenagers in situations that expose them as contemplative, vulnerable individuals. Their innocent faces contrast the partly gloomy stills, which uncover suspicious situations without revealing the suspects. They give hints of the beginning or ending of stories in which the viewers are supposed to imagine themselves. They refer to furtive things and secrets that they want to stay hidden.
https://www.birthepiontek.com/
(Source: https://collection.photoireland.org/photobooks/sub-rosa/)
About the Artist
Birthe Piontek is a visual artist who works in photography, installation, sculpture, and drawing. Her photographic practice explores the interconnections between photographic images, objects, history, and personal and collective memory.
Piontek’s work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in Canada, the United States, Europe, and South America and is featured in many private and public collections, such as the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago and the Museum of Applied Arts in Gera, Germany.
Piontek is the author of several photography books. The project The Idea of North won the Critical Mass Book Award in 2009 and was published by Photolucida in 2011. Her project Abendlied received the Edward Burtynsky Grant in 2018 and was nominated by Time Magazine as one of the best photo books in 2019. Her third book, Janus, was published in 2021, and her newest project, Zero Hour, was released in 2025.
https://www.birthepiontek.com/
(Source: https://www.birthepiontek.com/read-me)
About the Publisher
Kominek was founded in 2007 and is based in Berlin, Germany. It is a gallery and book dealer for documentary photography specializing in East European topics. Kominek is also co-publisher with Birthe Piontek of this exhibition catalog. Sub Rosa was shown in Berlin, November 2008.
https://www.kominekominekominek.com/
(Source: https://www.kominekominekominek.com/info/)
