Rückenfigur Portraits

Literally meaning “back figure", the term rückenfigur is usually associated with German romantic painters, such as Caspar David Friedrich, to describe a viewpoint that includes another person seen from behind, viewing a scene spread out before the viewer.

In this series the subject gives us her back, refusing to be identified, pinned down, or boxed in, perhaps, embracing or representing the anonymity or blankness of social perceptions. Perhaps a mood of ambivalence that makes the viewer project his or her own assumptions onto the image.