Text on the works for “Spatial Intimacies” by Steven Montgomery:

Gina Bolle is an interdisciplinary artist from Germany working in photography, sculpture, textiles, assemblage and multimedia installation. Her work raises questions about the dymamics of power and control, specifically whether photographs and other forms of imagery can cause unintentional or intentional harm to individuals in their everyday lives.

The exhibited pieces are made of steel, aluminium and acetone transfer on fabrics of screenshots. The images were taken from a video work which Bolle filmed autonomously from her car window,as she drove from her home to her studio, a distance of 14 miles in the Hessian region of Germany.

The pieces form an inquiry into her intentions as an artist. Does her imagery show respect for her surroundings? Is she honoring her subjects? Or is it possible she was using the camera in an invasive way, or even as a weapon?

She saw prominent security devices installed in homes such as fences, gates, and elaborate locks. Strangers, with both friendly and unfriendly faces, passed right next to her car. Day after day, the atmosphere of forbidding homes and uncertain looks of strangers caused uncomfortable questions to arise in Gina’s mind.

Were the homeowners trying to tell her to stay away? Did they not welcome her gaze or the presence of her camera?

The structures Gina has created, in response to her car rides, are both an honoring of the homeowners and a curiosity of their preoccupation with security and safety. Her images are also connected to her art residency in New York City, where she tried to find similarities in how people secure their homes from the unwelcome gaze of strangers.