Armor (German: Rüstungen) by Claudia Fährenkemper, made 2010–2015 across museum collections worldwide, examines 15th–17th‑century European parade and tournament armor through large‑format black‑and‑white portraits.
Armor studies the “shell” as design, inviting reflection on how artifacts encode belief, hierarchy, prosperity, and bodily vulnerability. The photographs stage a measured unease—fascination alongside the uncanny—through visors, etched details, and grin-like faceplates that imply both spectacle and aggression.
Visually, the work isolates armor against neutral backgrounds to emphasize sculptural presence. A centered perspective and frequent profile views promote comparative looking across pieces and periods. Lighting molds surfaces so that steel reads as volume rather than décor. The prints, often around 100 × 120 cm, sustain a steady, contemplative mood and underscore material detail.
Technically speaking, Fährenkemper employs a large‑format camera and a slow, analog workflow culminating in gelatin silver, fiber‑based prints. Through close collaboration with museums, certain armor pieces could be temporarily removed from their display cases. Their backgrounds were then carefully controlled and subtly darkened to remove visual distractions, refining the typological focus of each photograph. The consistency of method links Armor to the Düsseldorf School, reflecting Fährenkemper’s direct training under Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher, while maintaining her own transformation of reality into a field for measured comparison.
Exhibitions in Europe, Asia, and North America—among them Sehen Zen (GoEun Museum of Photography, Busan, 2014), Armor (IHK‑Galerie Siegen, Germany, 2017), and Seltsame Schönheit (Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto, 2020)—helped consolidate its visibility by presenting the work alongside earlier series and in dedicated solo formats. Works from Armor are held in the collections of the GoEun Museum of Photography (Busan) and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (often shown in dialogue with Imago). The artist received the Excellent Photographer Award at the Pingyao International Photography Festival in 2016, underscoring the series’ role within her evolving investigation of artifacts and their afterlives.
