Kathrin Linkersdorff began her career as an architect working in Japan. Her photographs of flowers and other living beings embody this worldview, presenting still images of organic life as it transitions from life to some transient state beyond. For her Fairies series, she begins by collecting tulips and carefully drying them over a period of several weeks. The artist then submerges the dried, translucent flowers into a liquid medium where their petals unfurl. Suspended in this fluid space, their delicate structures can be clearly observed at a level of intricacy typically hidden from the human eye. Often, Linkersdorff introduces the floral dye into that very same medium where it diffuses in swirling, colorful tendrils. The result is a fluid dance between the natural flow of the pigment and the brittle form of the preserved flower.

Fairies II / 7 and Fairies II / 4

Kathrin’s work was recently acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.