Cyanotype on fabric, 200 x 167 cm, 2022
270 West 17th Street, New York City

A studio stipend from the Federal Ministry of Austria led Schmid to New York City, where she made this work in her studio at 270 West 17th Street. The artist captured the light and shadow phenomena on the curtain, how they appeared on it at a particular time of day. If one considers that at the same time the next day or perhaps at the same time of day one year later, the light coming from outside and the resulting shadows are exactly the same as the captured trace of light on the curtain, then the piece is not about a moment frozen in time. It reflects elements of filmmaking that are very significant to the artist’s work. Repetition and difference, which are important in this context, are also among the artist’s recurring interests. Through its title, Curtain for rainy days, also acts as a repository of memories of better weather and sunny days, maybe in a figurative sense as well. The drape, whose function is also to keep out light when it is too bright, becomes the screen of an imaginary outside where the sun is always shining. (Siegfried A. Fruhauf)

 

Cyanotype on fabric, 300 x 145 cm, 2020
Schikanedergasse, Vienna

This cyanotype is capturing the shadows that appear on the curtains of my apartment in the morning through spring and summer and is preserving them for the winter months.