D i e . B e s u c h e r i n . 2 0 1 6 - 1 8 .
80 Fine Art Prints, 40 x 40 cm (sheet 60 x 60 cm), framed 60 x 60 cm, ed. 5 + 2 AP (more pictures upon request)
Sarah Straßmann works conceptually and artistically with the medium of photography. In her role as a visitor, she followed the course of the Emscher through the cities of Dinslaken, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Bottrop, Essen, Gelsenkirchen, Recklinghausen, Herne, Waltrop and Dortmund. She booked accommodations via AirBnB and took pictures of them during her stay there, documenting the interiors, details, but also gardens, courtyards and neighbourhoods. One factor that links all the apartments and places she photographed is their distance to the Emscher or one of its tributaries. We never actually see any of the inhabitants directly, only the living spaces they have created and which represent them indirectly.
Straßmann is a photographer who holds a Ph.D. in Fine Arts and researches at the intersection of theory and practice in Visual Culture Studies. In "The Visitor" she explores the cultural traits and structures of private and public spaces along the Emscher and its tributaries by means of her photographs of interiors and outdoors, as well as still lives. The series was photographed at 13 locations and consists of a total of 80 photographs. It is characterized by documentary observations, but also by atmospheric studies which can be understood as socio- or psychograms of an entire region and not only of individual locals.
(Stefanie Grebe, exhibition "Beyond Emscher", Ruhr Museum Essen, 2022)