Independent Art and Photography - Petra Wunderlich

Of all the students known for studying at the Dusseldorf school under the instruction of Bernd and Hilla Becher, Wunderlich has probably stayed closest to the photographic style of her tutors. Her work focuses in on religious buildings in New York city, particularly those that just blend into the other buildings around. Like the Bechers, the work is in black and white, and for the most part she shoots the building head on, so the facades are flat to the viewers' eyes.

©Petra Wunderlich

Wunderlich can be seen to have followed on from the New Topographic style of documenting her surroundings - the images appear detached and unemotional. She has aimed to document most of the religious buildings with very similar framing, although not quite as rigidly as the Bechers work.

©Petra Wunderlich

©Petra Wunderlich

©Petra Wunderlich

Something that I draw inspiration form in Wunderlich's work is the fact that there are no people in the photographs. The images are purely about the buildings and their architecture. They show the effect of human intervention without needing to show the humans themselves. Personally, I feel that the way that buildings either side of the subjects have been included strengthens the images. It places these places of religious worship into a context, and allows the viewer to recognise that, no matter where you are or how unpleasant looking an area is, there will always be one constant - a religious building.
Although I see links between my style of work for this project and these images, the subject matter for me will be different. My whole aim for this series of projects was to keep them very personal, to document the things that are close to home. Therefore, ratehr than photographing only one type of building in Norwich, as I did with the independent shop fronts and Wunderlich has done with the religious buildings, I want to build up a general impression of the place. This will probably involve some work similar to these images, but interspersed with more general, cityscape images. I will be shooting in black and white film however - I want to keep the same feel as photographers like Wunderlich and Ruscha, but relate it to my own situation. Therefore, when shooting buildings, I will take inspiration from images like these, shooting the buildings flat, head on. I will also establish a context for where the buildings are, which is something that Wunderlich hasn't done.
Although we see a glimpse of what lies on either side of the religious building, without reading the viewer has no idea where in the world they are. Perhaps this was her aim, to keep them anonymous, but for me it is important that the viewer has a point of reference in the project.