artistic work

A white rose against a black background, its stem cut off and a red liquid, blood, dripping from it onto the ground. This could be a general motif for "good and evil", "life and death" or "beauty and pain". In the broadest sense, the destruction of nature might also be found in the image. But I personally associate the image with a different meaning: When I think of the resistance fighter against National Socialism, Sophie Scholl, I am overcome by a feeling of boundless grief and anger. Sophie was born exactly 100 years ago and executed by the Nazis on 22 February 1943 - the symbol of the resistance group to which she belonged was a white rose. I made my work primarily for myself to express my feelings and thoughts about Sophie Scholl and wanted to create an abstract portrait of her. But at the same time I want to set a sign against forgetting National Socialism and give courage for the present. For me, art is always a call to reflection. The work depicts a beautiful and straight white rose. Sophie Scholl (and other comrades-in-arms) died for the idea behind it. In order not to distort the message, I have kept my work simple and almost abstract. The blood on the stem and the pool of blood on the floor express her violent death by guillotine. The picture is covered with transparent drops in which I see (my) tears. In this way I deliberately accept that the aesthetics of the picture are disturbed and the emotions become part of the work, The overall dark colouring stands for the dark times and hopelessness of the time; but it could also be reminiscent of a grave. Nevertheless, there is a ray of hope: the rose, supported by a somewhat lighter background almost like an illumination. A slight green colouring means to me that there is still life there. The leaves of the rose are very drawn, as I think people were at that time; but they also stand for a multi-layered woman. The thorns have been removed because even resistance was ultimately broken by violence. The dark edges of the leaves are meant to remind us of death and mourning. The cut and the pool of blood are not the focus, but they are part of Sophie Scholl's life and death, but they are only hinted at in the work. The connection to death is also reinforced by the black wooden frame and the white passe-partout. A possible association with an obituary is quite intentional. Since the event took place a long time ago, the picture was symbolically covered with a texture and a fine grain. The type of paper chosen (fine art paper: Hahnemühle Natural Line) also has a slightly yellowed tone - similar to old, slightly yellowed paper. Since this is a portrait in the broadest sense, I shot the rose with a typical "portrait focal length" of 85mm (35mm format). The blood was then added by me in post-processing with Photoshop. I applied the drops after printing. Because the image was post-processed with drops, each image is unique. Nevertheless, the edition of this motif is limited to a total of 5 images. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)