Door Portraits

The practical function of doors is something like the “regulation of accesses”. As visible objects they additionally convey proposals for their use, in the simplest case translatable as “please come in” or “stay out”.
Yet, the message of the doors shown in this exhibition is more complex. The different kinds of perspectives they offer, but also their alerting, inviting or deterring colors (red v. yellow/blue v. black) and traces of use elicit specific perceptions in each viewer. The combination of each of these properties makes every door unique. For those who are or were handling it in their respective factory, it acts or acted as a familiar “face”, that represented a part of the  work environment. 
Those doors, which were photographed in black and white in the beginning of the 90ies, were based in factories in Lauchhammer (region of Niederlausitz); the color-photographs from 2015 are based in Gnosjö und Skeppshult (Småland / Sweden). 14 photographs, all doors where photographed analogically using a Linhof Technikardan S  4 x 5 inches.

 

Door portraits of Småland