Annette Schröter

Papierschnitte were once used to create simple portraits and charming crafts. After the invention of photography, this technique was primarily maintained by coffee gatherings and kindergartens.

Annette Schröter (*1956 in Meißen), a significant representative of the Leipzig School and a professor of painting at HGB, recognized the potential of this method, skillfully developed it further, and achieved entirely new effects. She depicted not only patterns and outlines but even spaces, textures, and blurriness. Her Papierschnitte showcase images of home, composed of labels from multinational corporations, portray graffiti on dilapidated buildings, or illustrate the plant-covered wire fences of community gardens.

In the context of traditional media such as photography, painting, or drawing, such motifs would have produced clichés, but the use of Papierschnitt changes everything. "To take something that is otherwise considered trivial, kitschy, subcultural, or outdated offers the chance to see it anew within the framework of high art and thereby enrich it," wrote Wolfgang Ullrich about these works.