Isabelle Wenzel

Ge
B. 1982

Isabelle Wenzel plays a game. A game where she challenges herself as well as the viewer. Improvisation is an important element in this game. Things happen by mistake. Wenzel questions the role of both the camera and the (female) body.

Isabelle Wenzel plays a game. A game where she challenges herself as well as the viewer. Improvisation is an important element in this game. Things happen by mistake. Wenzel questions the role of both the camera and the (female) body.

Isabelle Wenzel studied to be a photographer/artist, but is also a trained acrobat. Usually, she sets her own body before the camera. Within the seconds that the self-timer allows her, she assumes an impossible position and continues to hold it until the camera has clicked.

The central focus of the photographs of Isabelle Wenzel is the body as a physical form, rather than people themselves. By making a 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 experimental performance in front of the camera, which captures it for us in ‘frozen’ form as a photograph.

Isabelle Wenzel’s works have been exhibited in the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam; the Fotografisk Center, Copenhagen; FOAM, Amsterdam; Metro Hall, Toronto and Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen. In addition, she has participated in numerous fairs including Art Rotterdam; Unseen; Contemporary Art Ruhr, PAN, and the Brighton Photo Biennial.

Isabelle Wenzel lives and works in Germany

WORK AVAILABLE