This catalogue presents collages and works on paper from the past 15 years by Anohni. Born in 1971 (West Sussex, England), she is the singer for the renowned New York-based avant-garde band, Antony and the Johnsons.

Anohni herself has curated part of the show. Here, the artist gathers a number of works by others that are important to her. They include the photographs of Peter Hujar (1934–1987), whose work documented key figures of the New York underground during the 1970s and 1980s. His portraits of artists, dancers, and intellectuals were juxtaposed with images of decay and death to create an existential meditation.

The deeply melancholic drawings and sculptures by the American artist, James Elaine (b. 1950) are shown for the first time in Europe. Anohni also refers to the Japanese Butoh dancer Kazuo Ohno, whose performances combined traditional Japanese dance, German expressionism, and memories of manifestation and trauma, and have exercised considerable influence over Anohni’s own work.

For about a decade, Anohni has been quietly creating her own body of visual art that testifies to her intense feel for the haptic qualities of materials. She has produced collages made out of found pieces and accumulated collections; she has created larger scale sculptural works and encaustic (hot wax) paintings. All the work supports an exploration of transformation/transcendence, and the relationship between humanity, the environment and the destructive effects of climate change.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition, Anohni: My Truth at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld, 23 July – 16 October 2016.

English and German text.