Photographer #191: Irene Andessner

Irene Andessner, 1954, Austria, has been focusing on the self-portrait since 1988. In the beginning she realised her portraits through paintings, but from the mid-90's in tableaux vivants, photography and video stagings. She gets into the roles of various women such as the Black Madonna, Rachael from the movie Bladerunner or Marlene Dietrich. Not only women are being portrayed, in 2006 she interpreted the traditional but questionably authentic portrait of Mozart. She released the Book I Am Irene Andessner which shows her works between 1995 and 2003. I Am (present tense) because she herself gives absolutely contemporary expression to historical figures. The following images come from the series Citylights [Vienna], Ida/Artemis/Merian and Donne Illustri.

Website: www.andessner.com
(Video in German)