Zurich artist and photographer Ruth Erdt has lived and worked in the old village centre of Schwamendingen in an farmhouse dating back to the 15th century for 25 years. Many of her works have been created in this refuge and retreat away from the hustle and bustle of the city. The old cottage is not only a backdrop, protagonist and content, but also a workshop and photo studio – and not least a family home; the artist raised her two children here.
In the current exhibition “In der Hütte” (In the hut), Ruth Erdt is showing a layout of the location, opening her archive, clearing out stowed boxes and old folders. She has a look at an oeuvre that brings art and life together. At a distance from the city, she has developed her own visual language over the years, the urgency and intimacy of which is touching.
Family members, friends, the garden and the seasons, the house as a protected space and refuge of intimacy are recurring motifs in Ruth Erdt’s photography. For many years, she has captured her family life in a mixture of documentation and staging and brought it to a conclusion with the publication of the already out-of-print book “The Gang” and the resulting installation “The Liars” at the Fotostiftung Winterthur. Her new works, which have been shown at message salon and Perla-Mode, among others, also revolve around adolescence, identity, intimacy, protection and defencelessness. And photography itself is always the theme: the question of reality and manipulation and the influence of technology on the visual language.
The vintage prints on display, developed and enlarged by Ruth Erdt in the laboratory, are available for purchase.
The exclusive message salon Zine will be published for the vernissage
Ruth Erdt “Analog”, including poster, limited and numbered edition, b/w ©2014 Ruth Erdt and message salon