Sarah Ortmeyer
The Allies (II), 2007

Artist
Sarah Ortmeyer

Title
The Allies (II)

Year of creation
2007

Technology and dimensions
Four flag remnants, folded, polyester, each approximately 30 x 30 cm

Year of acquisition
2009

Acquisition of the foundation

Sarah Ortmeyer takes history apart, combines things that at first glance don't seem to belong together, and in the process uncovers unexpected structures. In her exhibition “Recapitulation” (Figge von Rosen Galerie, 2007), in which the work “The Allies (II)” was shown for the first time, she abstracts history using various media and approaches. Ortmeyer rarely misses out on political and historical references, but the theme in your oeuvre is not clumsy agitprop, but rather allusions that give food for thought.

In the second part of the work acquired by the foundation, Ortmeyer shows what remains after she has cleared the Allied flags of everything that is not red. In doing so, it stimulates thoughts about the end of communism - what remains of it after German reunification apart from the color red - and makes historical facts aware, for example when the Soviet flag remains legible almost unchanged or when only the flag of the British Empire remains The stripes representing England and Ireland remain standing, making it clear that it is a national flag for a state conglomerate.

In the first part of the work “The Allies,” Ortmeyer eliminates all text from the pages of Pravda, The Guardian, Le Monde and The New York Times from October 3, 1990 and only leaves the images effective. The Day of German Unity is represented in this way with images from important daily newspapers of the Allies of World War II. Again, it is the removal of the information fundamental to the respective medium that gives rise to the poetry of the work and at the same time calls into question the relevance of what has been removed. What can be understood about the mood in the Allied countries if only the images speak, and - finally - how do the grainy images appear without their accompanying text?

Ortmeyer's works quietly question what is taken for granted. It shifts the viewer's perspective and opens up a new view of the world and its history.