FRANCESCO NERI

Trophy and Treasure

Gabriele Conrath-Scholl

Italian contemporary photographer Francesco Neri (b. 1982) uses family photos found in his grandparents’ apartment as the inspiration for his current exhibition and publication, Trophy and Treasure, at the photography museum SK Stiftung Kultur, Cologne (July 2017). Recognized for his poignant portraits taken in the style of the iconic early 20th-century German photographer August Sander, Neri, in his latest project, shifts to an exploration of northern Italy’s towns and villages—his native countryside, people and history. Blending snapshots of family members, including his grandfather who was both a doctor and a hunter, with his own still-life photographs of familiar objects in the apartment taken with a large-format camera, Neri presents an intimate document of his family and culture in over 50 color images. Exhibition curator Gabriele Conrath-Scholl, together with the artist, creates a powerful and poetic homage to history, family and memory.

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ERWIN POLANC

8630 Mariazell

Young Austrian photographer Erwin Polanc (b. 1982) has no interest in the use of photographic imagery to promote religious fervor. In his new survey, Polanc turns his eye to the small town of Mariazell in inner Austria, home of one of the most important and visited pilgrimage shrines in Europe, Basilica Maria Geburt. There are several stories regarding the power and miracles attributed to the Virgin Mary in Mariazell dating back to the 11th century, suggesting a richly historical past. However, Polnac, in his photographic record, strips the town of pilgrims, religious iconography and acts of devotion, and replaces them with stark color images and views and details of a town that is shockingly plain and at times a bit run-down. As Polanc describes his method of working in a conversation with Viennese graphic designer Christian Hoffelner, “My intention is to use precise, ultra-realistic digital imaging to counter the conventional romantic notions that exist among many of the people in Mariazell.”

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