Corina Gertz: The averted portrait

Since 2001, Gertz has been exploring clothing as non-verbal communication in her photographs – signs of rank and status, group affiliations, regional identity, religious denomination and official function. She has been working on her series The Averted Portrait since 2010. Her work has been exhibited in international museums and galleries such as MARTA Herford, Shanghai Art Museum, National Museum of Singapore, Museo delle Culture del Mondo Genoa, and White Box Art Centre, 798, Beijing.

Corina Gertz photographs people around the world in traditional clothing. She addresses the threat to cultural heritage posed by globalisation. Her focus is on the seemingly quieter side of portraiture, the rear views. The individual remains hidden, with only the clothing conveying information. At the same time, the front of the clothing is representative, conveying status and habitus, while the back is more intimate, personal, and unnoticed.

In 2023, Alexander Ochs invited the artist to photograph members of mining associations and guilds in the Ore Mountains in the same way. During a trip lasting several days, she visited Annaberg-Buchholz, Ehrenfriedersdorf, Freiberg, Marienberg, Oelsnitz/Erzgebirge, Schneeberg and Schwarzenberg, where she captured miners with her camera. These now stand alongside motifs from China, Cuba, Kenya, France, Spain and Turkmenistan.

An exhibition has been created on the site of the historic horse-drawn winding tower at the Rudolfschacht mine in Marienberg, transforming the historic mine into a personal encounter. At the same time, it opens up new perspectives by highlighting the global focus on preserving culture and tradition. Twenty larger-than-life ‘turned-away’ portraits are located in the outdoor area, eight in the rooms of the shaft house and the sorting bench, and can be viewed there until 2 November 2025 during the museum's opening hours.