Corina Gertz has been photographing people in traditional clothing and costumes around the world for almost 15 years. She first studied fashion design and then found her way to photography during her travels abroad. Through the back view against a black background, which is typical for her portraits, she directs our gaze to the patterns and structures of the handwork.
"The work has a relevance and is important to capture things," says the Düsseldorf native about her photographs. They preserve centuries of tradition and make them accessible to all of us. Therefore the artist is always happy to be invited and welcomed by people wearing traditional clothing. Her photographs of traditional costumes were taken in the Ore Mountains, in Lagartera in Spain or with the Turkana women in Kenya, as well as in many other places.
In the summer of 2023, Corina Gertz visited the island of Föhr and the Museum Kunst der Westküste. While she photographed women from the island in their traditional costumes, her husband Kris Scholz, also a photographer, used the time to take landscape photographs, for which he uses a special paper negative process.
More than 30 women from Föhr and Amrum eventually stood in front of Corina Gertz's camera. After taking her pictures, she reported enthusiastically about the uncomplicatedness andopenness of the islanders. She was also interested in the similarities and differences between the traditional costumes on Föhr and Amrum: for example, the photographer noticed that the Amrum women often wear more colourful traditional costumes.