Sand Structures: Frauke Petersen's Relief Worlds

From St. Peter-Ording to Friedrichstadt: Twice a year, artists from the KunstKlima group in Eiderstedt open their studios to visitors. The next Open Studio Day will take place on Sunday, September 7, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Photography, painting, drawing, graphic art, hand weaving, and stick figures will be on display at 23 locations. The event offers the opportunity to talk to the artists, watch them at work, and purchase works of art. In addition to the studios, the Kulturhaus in Garding will host an exhibition of works of art, books, and catalogs by the participating artists in a showroom on this day.

One of the participating artists is Frauke Petersen, who has her studio in her birthplace of St. Peter-Ording. Petersen works primarily with different types of sand from around the world, which she applies to photographs, thereby altering the image through new structures. This results in relief-like works that seem to take on ever-changing forms depending on the incidence of light and the viewing angle. By combining photography, which creates the illusion of reality, with sand, often associated with transformation and transience, Petersen questions the objectivity of seeing. Her works are based on photographs of architecture, landscapes, and shadows, for example. Petersen has been a freelance artist since 1998, having previously worked as a garden and landscape architect. In 2017, Petersen was awarded the Rotary Club Eiderstedt's Art and Culture Prize for her artistic work.