In 1999 photography became the principal medium of my dedication and work. Since then I have mainly focused on social and political issues and movements. During the development process of my projects as well as for the conduction of the exhibitions and public actions, very often I collaborate closely with activist and community groups, with NGOs and charities. My work always intends to document and make visible political, cultural and social issues which are not represented in our society and to draw attention to taboo subjects, for example, illness, mutilation, discrimination and exploitation.
To reach the maximum public possible, to serve as a serious challenge to today’s information society, and as an effective counterpoise to the reports usually disseminated by the mainstream media, my projects include the necessity to be published as broad and as widely as possible. Therefore the distribution strategy for my images and texts is usually based on different foundations which include: exhibitions in art spaces, galleries and museums, as well as in highly frequented public spaces such as in the metro, in public squares, on billboards, etc; publication of the work in magazines and newspapers around the world; the use of the material in public actions such as in demonstrations or campaigns, etc.
Breast Cancer
For the series Breast Cancer I portrayed 22 women, all of whom I found through the placement of short advertisements in Berlin newspapers. I did not select them, but accepted them in the sequence of their phone calls so as to give all women interested the possibility of participation, independent of their physical state or health. Thus emerged photographs of women between the ages of 25 and 63. They had had surgery, had had a mastectomy, a breast „rebuilt“, or not, and wore a prothesis, or again, not.
All the photographs were taken in close co-operation with the women portrayed. My intention was to photograph them as they wanted to present themselves in front of the camera and in public. There were no special rules to observe in the studio; the participants only had the responsibility to pose according to their own interpretations and in the way they would like to be represented, as women in our society affected by breast cancer.
The pictures were taken with a 4 x 5 Inch format camera.
Resume
Katharina Mouratidi, born 1971, lives and works in Berlin, Germany.
Freelance Photographer since 2001
solo exhibitions (selection)
The Other Globalisation
2005 Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany
Main train station, Stuttgart, Germany
…well, I don‘t think I lost my female identity.
2004 Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece
Breast Cancer (semi-nude colour portraits)
2003 „Rencontres Photographiques du Mois d’Octobre“, Orthez, France
Gallery Le Bar Floréal, Paris, France
2002 Museum der Arbeit, Hamburg, Germany
„Forum de l´Image“, Musée de l´Histoire de la Médecine, Toulouse, France
„Primavera Fotográfica“, La Capella de l´Antic Hospital de la Santa Cruz, Barcelona, Spain
exhibitions participation (selection)
2005 Fotogalerie Wien, Vienna, Austria
„REALITÄTEN I: MACHTFAKTOR WIRTSCHAFT“
2004 Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany „ich, du, er, sie, es – corporate genders“
Musée d´Art et d´Histoire, Geneve, Switzerland „La collection M+M Auer“
2002 Galerie d´Art Du Conseil Général des Bouches-du-Rhone, Aix-en- Provence, France
„Femmes – femmes. Regards de femmes – Femmes regardées“
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany „Nackt“
collections (selection)
George Eastman House, Rochester, USA
Musée de la Photographie, Charleroi, Belgium
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany
Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, Greece
publications (selection)
2006 European Photography, No. 78, Spring 2006 (Germany)
Ojo de Pez, No. 06, Spring 2006 (Spain)
Colors Magazine, No. 66, January 2006 (Italy)
2004 British Marie Claire, November 2004 (Great Britain), „Me and my blessed bosoms“
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