Anna Skladmann

Anna Skladmann (b. 1986, Germany) combines photography and scanning techniques to reflect on aspects of contemporary life as well as explore notions of nature and society. Having received her MA from the Royal College of Art and her BA from Parsons School of Design, her work has since been nominated for the Prix Pictet and Paul Huf Award, and has also won the Arles Photo Folio Prize. 

Skladmann published her first monograph in 2011 and her photographic projects have been shown in exhibitions and festivals, including the Maison Européenne de la Photographie in Paris, , Museum fuer Kunst und  Gewerbe in Hamburg and Fotofest in Houston. Recent solo exhibitions include In Bloom, Artsy & Lumitrix (2020); YVA, Schlueterstrasse 45, Berlin (2019); and The Man With The Midas Touch - A Botanical Index Of Narcissus, The Garden Museum, London (2019).

Anna Skladmann’s practice interrogates the mythologisation of nonhuman nature, and the relationship between plants and technology. She uses a scanner to capture arrangements of flowers, leaves, and fruit, adding water to the machine’s sensitive surface. Slow scans are used to create ultra- detailed high-resolution images, flecked with digital glitches caused by tiny movements or light leaks.

Her Hayom objects and special commissions:

For Hayom she makes wedding gifts commissions: she scans flowers from the bridal bouquet or the Huppah, as a way to make the short-lived flowers last forever. She is also creating some Judaica objects about the 'Seven Spieces'. Those seven agricultural products – two grains and five fruits – are listed in the Hebrew Bible as being special products of the Land of Israel (wheat, barley, figs, dates, grapes, olives and pomegranates). With a nostalgic view to her own roots Skladmann’s delicate work underlines the historical and mythical connection that humans have with nature. The Seven Species have played an important role in the food of the Israelites (later: Jews) in the Land of Israel and the religious traditions of Judaism. Many references to these basic foods can be found in the Bible.