Morgaine Schäfer - Ehrenhof Prize 2017

At the same time, this presentation is the contribution of Museum Kunstpalast to the Festival Düsseldorf Photo 2018. Morgaine Schäfer was born 1989 in Wolfsburg and studied at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art with Christopher Williams. She received the Prize for her work „Westen – wschód“ (West), in which she reflects her own history, questioning her identity with the help of photographs of her family. Her exhibition at Museum Kunstpalast elaborates this topic and makes use of a series of wooden reliefs that were crafted by one of her ancestors in the tradition of timber-framed decorations of Lower Saxony at the beginning of the 20th century. A photograph of these reliefs in their current presentation is the starting-point for her work.

Morgaine Schäfer reflects on the potential of the photographic medium while asking at the same time for the liability of the ethic implications of traditional handicraft and regional identities. With her work, Morgaine Schäfer refers to the complex and contradictory ways in which identity is shaped today. On the occasion of the exhibition an artist’s book will be published.