Field Studies (2014-2024)

Isabelle Wenzel (b. 1982, Germany) captures dynamic self-portraits of her body defying gravity in the ongoing series ‘Field Studies’. In most of the images, her face is concealed while her legs are in mid-air and seem to have a life of their own. Her photographs have a sculptural quality; her body becomes an object. Within the seconds that the self-timer allows her, she assumes an impossible position and continues to hold it until the camera has clicked. By making the photograph, she freezes a pose in time as it were, and in doing so draws attention to the sculptural qualities of the body. In order to achieve a certain image, the manoeuvres need to be carried out repeatedly. In this way, Wenzel does her own little experimental performance in front of the camera, which captures it for us in ‘frozen’ form as a photograph.