Stuttgarter Nachrichten

Images of Landscapes

Majestic Nature

by Klaus Zintz

rough translation from the original German

The photo artist Renate Aller wants to provoke our thought about the slowly changing world in an illustrated book with impressive images of nature

Icy blue glacier worlds in Patagonia, rugged rocky landscapes in the Himalayas, Sand dunes in the USA blurred in the endless white, lush green rainforests in New Zealand, the vastness of the Atlantic: These are the landscapes that Renate Aller impressively portrays with her large-format pictures.

She sees herself as an artist and not as a photographer. She uses photography as a tool. A tool for what? “The Space Between Memory and Expectation” is the title of her latest Monograph.

The images, accompanied by an essay by Makeda Best, photography curator at the Harvard Art Museum at Harvard University, and an interview with Courtney J Martin, director of the Yale Center for British Art, the images are intended to be thought-provoking. Especially, as Renate Aller points out, “the silent and ongoing erosion”.

From the glacier to the ocean

The photos are arranged according to this motto: Repeatedly, page after page we are following the natural cycle of erosion created by water and wind – in different facets from the glaciers and mountain peaks to the ocean.

Renate Aller states that this is another way to describe the state of stillness and change. Changes take place quietly, slowly and steadily – and yet lead to profound change. The photo artist is also applying this motto to other areas of life: about Corona, because the pandemic in lockdown forces us to pause in one place and on the other hand, as she states “”Our collective awareness of change is more intense, than it was ever in my memory “. It’s worth thinking about it while looking at the pictures.

The photographer

Raised in Hamburg, the photo artist Renate Aller has lived and worked in New York for many years. Her photographs have already been exhibited in numerous museums.

The book

“The Space Between Memory and Expectation” is Renate Aller’s latest work, with an essay and an interview in English. Kehrer Verlag, 96 pages, 48 euros. All pictures shown here are from the book.