Artco berlin: Jenseits der Grenzen

A new exhibition by Johanna-Maria Fritz follows the previous exhibitions at ARTCO Gallery in Berlin. Her subject: the wars in Afghanistan and the Ukraine.

avantgarde, photography

28/02/2023

With Jenseits der Grenzen, ARTCO Gallery Berlin is presenting an immersive solo exhibition by the 28-year old German photographer Johanna-Maria Fritz. The exhibition will feature photographs from five works series, the artist did within the last five years. Please join us for the opening on Friday, 3rd March from 18h at our gallery space in Berlin. Johanna-Maria Fritz has been traveling the world as a photographer for almost ten years. The Berlin-based artist finds her motifs in crises, conflicts, collapsing states, persecuted minorities, and at the margins of society. Because there, where few people look at, she identifies the truth.

Two hands between the chords of an oriental Rug. — From the Series „Taliban Rugs“

A Soldier and weapons woven into an oriental rug. — From the Series „Taliban Rugs“

„There, I see people who are absorbed by their own problems and have never learned to pose according to our standards“
Johanna-Maria Fritz

Images From the Front

The ruins of a building in Ukraine. — From the Series „A Grave in the Garden“

An old Ukrainian man carried in a plaid by volunteers. — From the Series „A Grave in the Garden“

Fritz has had portraits of Taliban men woven into rugs. Made by the same girls whom the Islamists had forbidden to learn thus to hope. Supposed iconic imagery that illustrate the inhumanity of the current regime. In spring 2022, Fritz was also one of the first photojournalists in Ukraine, taking pictures in Butcha and the Donbas, among other places. Her work from the front proves that journalistic documentary can meet high aesthetic standards, that beauty can even accentuate the unimaginable. These images have become modern icons.

Four women in red dresses dancing around a fire place. — From the Series „Daughters of Magic“ & „Like a Bird“

An elderly woman joggling with three bags in front of a blue wall. — From the Series „Daughters of Magic“ & „Like a Bird“

„In the exhibition, the recent works are juxtaposed with two older series that were created as long-term art projects. Photographs of ‘witches’ in Romania and circus performers in Muslim-majority countries. Motifs that resemble dreamy landscapes full of contrasts, intimate despite their precarious situations.“
Thore Schröder

About Johanna-Maria Fritz:

Johanna-Maria Fritz (1994) studied photography at the »Ostkreuz Schule für Fotografie« in Berlin/Germany. She is based between Berlin and the Middle East. Her work focuses on disadvantaged or forgotten groups, women and conflict zones. Fritz has been a member of Ostkreuz Agency since 2019.

Her work has been published in: Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Le Monde among many more. She was awarded the Inge Morath Prize, the Peace Prize for Photography and the PH Grant for Photography.