"Tympanon, stone, second half of the 15th century, Musée des Beaux Arts de Lyon"

gelatin silver print

Like the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, Anja Ronacher is also convinced that "only archaeology can give us access to the present, because it traces its course and is on the trail of the shadow that the present casts on the past".
Perhaps this is the reason why the artist, with meticulousness and scientific curiosity, devotes herself almost exclusively to relics of times long past - former cult objects that can be found in museums and exhibitions today. Detached from their original functional context, they are elevated to isolated works of art in the museum complex, even though their purpose once was quite different.
From a contemporary perspective, Anja Ronacher casts her photographic shadow on the object in question, using analogue black-and-white photography together with a dramatic chiaroscuro staging.
(from K wie Kunst, Kardinal König Kunstpreis, Salzburg 2019)