Anna Katharina Henn 2020-2022 „Ich bin ein Geheimnis. Keine Wahrheit“ Mixed Media Installation 2021 ‚Cut off and rotten fingers‘ made out of clay and fake nails squeezed into condoms. Cut off fingers of someone who hurt me preserved in silicone tubes to keep as a trophy and to be put on display. The display is an electronic reading aid by the brand telensory. The reading aid is a black and white video magnifier designed for use by people who have visual impairments, including legal blindness, which makes it difficult or impossible for them to read ordinary printed materials. Legal blindness as the state I was in, when I let this person who these fingers metaphorically belonged to, hurt me as they did. Utilizing the picture control selector can display printed materials in high-contrast black text on a white background or white text on a black background. Or cut off fingers. The white text on black or negative image is ideal for glare reduction. It also features an extremely large depth of field for viewing three-dimensional objects and a smooth, non-glare reading table which permits reading heavy books. Or looking at cut off fingers. The lower part of the monitor is intended for the exhibition visitor to move in order to experience the real time screening on the display Stills of the fingers being moved on the display „All I wanted was adolescence, all I gotten was cold“ Mixed Media Installation Video duration 01:27 looping 2021 „All I wanted was adolescence, all I gotten was cold“ Mixed Media One Channel Video Installation in Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Duration 02:20 in loop with sound 2021 This spacial installation contains a cartboard box with europalettes, dirty duvets, blankets and bed sheets, secu- red with screws, yet intentionally wonky. The video projection shows a little tea cup piglet running in a pink room. It is trapped in a man made pink prison. It will soon grow into a full-sized adult. To then be thrown out of the twilight of it‘s pink home. Because pigs who stay the size of a teacup do not exist. These animals are really potbellied pigs who are either deliberately malnourished so that they remain smaller than average or are falsely advertised as being mini. And people who discover that often choose to abandon their grown up pigs. But Pigs are smart, sensitive, self-aware beings. As this man who this hand belongs to on the second layer of the video. His fingers had gotten too big for him to be able to take off his wedding ring. So he is cutting it off with a tiny saw. The combination of videos gives the impression of the little piglet being chased by the man‘s saw. The whispering sound of my own voice is wabering around the installation and resemble the stirred up thoughts about abandonment and growing pains they both experience. About the fact that concious decision being made in one moment, will never really fully apply on other life situations. No words can be understood as the sound is, as the video, multilayered. Vimeo link to video: https://vimeo.com/688137988 „Tomboy Badehandtuch“ Photoprint on Bathing Towel on Metallic Rack 2021 Towels printed with video stills of the intimate transformation from a man to a woman. The towels function as normal towels. To be sitten on, to dry wet arms with after bathing, and to dry wet eyes with after crying. „I know it exists because I am real and I am full of it“ Photography and Conceptual Work 2021 the masked view through the camera into the home of my grandparents in which my grandmother is being cared for. It has been the home for many people, it was always repaired and kept up and looked after. Now it shows traces of people looking after people inside of the walls of the house. It has little wagons with paper towels and medicine, has a stairlift for my overweight grandma to be taken up to her bedroom with. Everyone who see’s it knows the state the house is only temporary. The things used for the care of my grandmother are not being put away or merged to the furniture. They are invading the space. Open for everyone to see. Waiting for her to vanish. They are only there temporarily. It is a very intinmate and also painful sight for me to see so I used to a nylon sock to put over the lens of my camera, to estrange and alienate my own sight while photographing. To handycap my own perception and not act like tourist in my own childhood home. „I know it exists because I am real and I am full of it“ Photography and Conceptual Work 2021 „I didn‘t ask“ Photography Experiment with Textile in Front of Lens 2021 „I‘m Sorry am I being obscure?“ Photography Experiment with Textile in Front of Lens 2021 Installation View Exhibition in Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Summer 2021 „I‘m Sorry am I being obscure?“ Photography Experiment with Textile in Front of Lens 2021 „I know it exists because I am real and I am full of it“ Photography and Conceptual Work 2021 „Framing Post Millennials“ Video 02:20 looping, Installation and Conceptual Work Rundgang Kunstakademie Düsseldorf February 2021 ‚Framing Post Millennials‘ has a video projecting on two transparent layers of textile, letting the light of the projection find it‘s outlets. The video projection shows the morphing of teenage faces on one of their first parties back in 2012. Also my own and my first boyfriends teenage face is hidden in the looping stream. Partying back in the day took a crucial part in my young life. Growing up in the rural german countryside I felt the urge to challenge my mindset and express myself through dancing and dressing up. These pictures of a pre smartphone generation, showing hostest smiles, being generously happy about their pictures being taken and experiencing their first endeavor with alcohol. Being both naive and wise at the same time. Not knowing what life will be ahead of them. In order to not steal anybodies teenage face for my personal artistic processing of my first high school party, I made sure no face can be fully indentified. A recurring topic in my work - how to visualize complex, sensitive topics without revealing a secret? Vimeo link to Video: https://vimeo.com/688140472 „Thrown and overblown with bliss“ Photography and Ink Drawing 2022 „Nesting“ Photography of myself and Ink Drawing 2022 Nesting box, breeding site, nesting behaviour, nesting territory, empty nest, it‘s an ill bird that fouls it‘s own nest, to stir up a hornet‘s nest, love nest, mare‘s nest, to have a little nest egg. An egg being inside of me and suddenly be falling out of my naked body. The following quest to find a home for something that is living inside of me, that needs to be put in a nest of emotional warmth. Like an inner child with the deep longing for togetherness and safety. „Meine Followerschaft macht mir Angst“ Photography and Ink Drawing 2022 The Wild Hunt, is a group of specters galloping in the sky. It is a folklore motif that occurs in the in various northern European cultures. They are described by common folk as a cavalcade of wraiths on undead horses galloping across the sky, souls of the dead or ghostly dogs, sometimes fairies, Valkyries, or elves. Their purpose is to find and capture slaves from other worlds. Standing as a metaphor for personal fears regarding social media anxiety disorder. Heavy social media use being linked to an increased risk for depression, anxiety, loneliness, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. „Don‘t be on time, be cute“ Video 00:55 2022 Video work showing a dry stick hanging and dancing in the wind. Still being attached to it‘s roots it moves in every direction the wind blows it. No fear of falling or losing it‘s attachment to it‘s roots. The second layer on the video shows me dancing as free and as unafraid as this hanging stick. The layerd video showing a direct dialogue between myself and the stick about to grow free. Sound is the ongoing noices of the german, rural village I grew up in. Vimeo Link: https://vimeo.com/688140704 „Pending doom under my stars“ Photography Experiment 2022 „Housefire“ Photography Experiment 2022