¬ Nora Heinisch
Why can’t I hold all these projections? is an ongoing visual investigation in which artist Nora Heinisch reflects on women and identity. In the margin between video work and photography, the constantly growing number of videos shows the intricate process of becoming the image of a woman. Depictions of role models: Celebrities, stereotypical brides, mothers, housewives … are literally projected onto the bodies of other women, who try to fit themselves into the projected ones. The intersection between the still and moving image provides the viewer with a choreography of women trying to fit into beauty and role standards. With its deep, rhythmic, heart-like echoes, the sound piece which accompanies the video surrounds the viewer, making the experience hypnotizing.
This visual riddle shows the process of literally becoming an image and makes us think about the constant pressure of society’s expectations towards women: of having to represent oneself rather than being allowed to simply be.
Maria G. Latorre
Why can’t I hold all these projections?
Video loop, 2020 – ongoing
Nora Heinisch (*1988, Leipzig/Germany) works as an artist in the fields of photography and video installation. An important focus of her work is the question of how photography affects interpersonal behavior, identity formation, and the way people look at each other. Heinisch develops her artistic practice in cycles of works, some of them lasting several years, which she approaches as continuous studies but also as new iterations of her long-term observations. Since 2020, she has been working on the ongoing study "Why can't I hold all these projections?" in which she uses her camera to explore and mirror the relationship between photography and female identity. Recent exhibitions and presentations include Laboratorio de Festival, Buenos Aires (AR); Robert Morat Galerie, Berlin; Galerie KUB, Leipzig. Heinisch lives in Berlin and studied there at the University of the Arts, where she graduated as 'Meisterschülerin' in visual communication.