Kathrin Linkersdorff’s “Fairies” presents the first comprehensive publication of her photographic series of the same name. The book is published by Hartmann Books and reproduces 58 illustrations across 112 pages. The images are inspired by the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi, which values the beauty of the imperfect and the fleeting, and they capture fading moments of transience. The photographs evoke both the still-life and vanitas traditions of old masters and cooler, dissecting abstraction. Printed in German, English, and Japanese, the volume measures 30.5 × 30.5 cm and is issued as a clothbound hardcover with gold embossing on printed linen, swiss brochure binding, color cut, and banderole. The design is by Anne Lene Proff and Kollektiv Scrollan. A limited edition is also available according to the publisher.
Two authors contributed texts to “Fairies”: William A. Ewing and Jens Komossa. They are the writers of the accompanying essays, not the photographer of the series; the photographs are by Kathrin Linkersdorff. The publisher notes that Linkersdorff began her career as an architect, and that a multi-year stay in Japan connected to a job provided an important influence on her work. In her own statement she describes an interest in the impermanence of flowers as a metaphor for the cycle of life, and says that her photographic portraits examine the essence and hidden structures of living organisms. The publisher’s description also mentions that the series was exhibited at Galerie Springer, Berlin, until 25 September 2021, and at Angermuseum Erfurt in the group exhibition “Flowerpower” from 27 June to 17 October 2021.
The publisher links the work to a quotation from Barbara Esch-Marowski, who compared the clarity of the photographs to Karl Blossfeldt’s plant photographs and noted that their aesthetics refer to photographs by Edward Weston. “Fairies” was also included in “Flora Fotografica” at the Deichtorhallen Hamburg from 14 October 2023 to 14 January 2024. The book is intended for readers interested in contemporary photography that draws on wabi sabi, transience, and the still-life tradition.
