Birthe PiontekSub Rosa

Artist Statement / Sub Rosa
Sub Rosa reminds us of a time, a stage in one's life which could not have been more intimate, and nevertheless exists as a romanticized blur in our mind today. No period in life is so comprehensively enriched with emotions, frustration and high expectations as the stage between our youth and adulthood. Adolescence, the loss of prolonged innocence and the desire to belong and to be different at the same time, seems to be an unconquerable obstacle in the journey of discovering our identity.
Today, all this seems far away even though most of us have hardly ever experienced more intense times of excessive self- reflection. We helplessly realize that access to the world of the youth - and sometimes even our kids - is often surprisingly restricted. We witness a world we once knew and now lost contact of. We notice traits we can't explain although they have been a part of our own personality before.
Sub Rosa takes us by the hand to lead us back to a magical, mystical place; like a sneak peek behind doors we thought had been closed behind us forever. We catch a glimpse of the unplumbed depth of human souls concealed behind innocent faces and intimate moments, which seem to have originated from our own memories.