Mimesis
2012–2014
May 1–8, 2016

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

  • From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

    From the series Mimesis (2012–2014) by Birthe Pinotek

With Mimesis I continue my exploration of the self and the human quest for identity. While the complexity and fleetingness of our self might make it look like a futile task to truly capture the essence of our identity, we create, share and look at millions of images of ourselves every day, in a tireless attempt to provide tangible proof of our existence. To be reassured, we somehow need to make ourselves more seen – by self and other. As any look in the mirror, photograph taken or portrait painted only offers a small glimpse of a being, images merely serve as a representation of the original. But what is the reality of the self?

With Mimesis I create a fictional world of representation that mediates our relationship to reality. I appropriate, change and reinterpret the original representations, in an effort to invite the viewer to look beyond the surface.

Here one may discover further embedded layers – the uncanny, the mysterious, the sad, the joyful, the painful – an expanding perceptual experience inviting exploration of the unknown parts of the self.

Thus Mimesis encourages us to engage with our deep, emotional longing to understand, articulate and visualize the complexity and universality of the human condition; and to take us beyond our usual, conditioned way of seeing and feeling.

Sponsored by

So Wa Massachusetts Department of Transportation

Presented by

Capture Photography Festival

Artists

Birthe Pinotek
Birthe Piontek birthepiontek.com

Birthe Piontek is a fine art photographer based in Vancouver BC, Canada. Originally from Germany, she moved to Canada in 2005 after receiving her MFA from the University of Essen in Communication Design and Photography. Birthe describes her photography as an exploration of the individual and is interested in the concept of Self. Her main focus is portrait photography but she also utilizes other art forms like installation and sculpture to investigate the essence of  portraiture and to what degree identity can be visualized.

Her work has been exhibited internationally, in both solo and group shows, 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. Birthe’s project The Idea of North won the Critical Mass Book Award 2009, and was published as a monograph in 2011. She was nominated for the AIMIA AGO Award 2014, and her recent project Lying Still was shown during the Capture Photo Festival in Vancouver in spring 2015. Her work has appeared in a number of international publications like The New York Times Magazine, Le Monde, Wired and The New Yorker among others.