Hidden Championnes
Series II
Portraits of unseen important women from the 19th and 20th century
The view is obscured. We have to look closely
My “Hidden Championnes” are portraits of women whose achievements have remained almost invisible and whose names are unknown. These deliberately obscuring portraits are intended to give us a picture of them and their fate.
The portrayed women
Chemist
Rosalind Franklin
Film Pioneer
Charlotte "Lotte" Reiniger
Biologist, Geneticist
Nettie Maria Stevens
Nuclear Physicist
Lise Meitner
Electronic Sound Pioneer
Daphne Oram
Seismologist
Inge Lehmann
Chemist, Pharmacist
Alice Augusta Ball
Astronomer, Astrophysicist
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
Writer, Co-author of Bertolt Brecht
Margarete Steffin
Harriet Taylor Mill. Philosophin
Philosopher, Women's Rights Activist
Harriet Taylor Mill
Mother of Rock'n'Roll, Musician, E-Guitar Player
Sister Rosetta Tharpe
About this project
Diverse female creativity has existed for centuries, but many women have been ignored, ignored or even deprived of their achievements due to various circumstances - which is why we neither know many names nor know that fundamental contributions to our progress have come from women.
The starting point for these portraits are photographs. I change the way I look at them, allowing the person being portrayed to look directly at the viewer. The interplay of chance (ink) and realistic representation (oil) ultimately results in portraits that deliberately disturb or obscure the view of the person portrayed. It is important to look closely in order to see them - just as we are called upon to sharpen our gaze in recent historiography in order to find and recognize these women and their achievements as such.
As I continue to work on this project, you will be able to find more portraits of women here over time. These portraits can also be purchased: I sell the originals in my own online store panettarium.art and if you prefer to show off one of the women as a T-shirt, mug or bag, you can find such printed goods in my merchandise store.