Abglanz
Alina Frieske’s Abglanz series, produced as part of her Bachelor thesis at ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne, is named after a poetic word in German whose original meaning is lost in translation. This expression alludes to a ‘pale reflection’ or a ‘distant echo’. Alina Frieske started by collecting images gleaned from social media. She then selected fragments of her wide assortment of anonymous snapshots and selfies and rearranged them into digital photomontages. These compositions form a series of portraits and still-life artwork inspired by the history of painting. By diverting the original intention of the collected pictures, Alina Frieske raises public awareness of the question of accessibility and appropriation of personal and private information widely available on internet. The artist’s warning is astonishingly beautiful. She adopts canonical codes of well-known genres, then updates them via unconventional means.
