Renate Graf

Art critics have described Austrian photographer Renate Graf’s work as a form of poetic documentation in which the image oscillates on the edge of language. In fact, it was her passion for literature and poetry that led Renate Graf to devote herself to photography. The writing of authors such as Fernando Pessoa, Rainer Maria Rilke, Tagore, T. S. Eliot, Edmond Jabès, Paul Valéry, and Hermann Broch created images in Graf's mind, which she then sought to capture through photography.

Renate Graf works primarily with black-and-white analog photography. Initially, she began by creating travel diaries composed of images, to which she associated handwritten texts of the authors that inspired her. This process became increasingly present, giving rise to larger format books which the artist herself bound by hand. It is during this process and in this context that she feels the need to create larger format images in the laboratory, using conventional printing techniques.

Today, Renate Graf's work is recognized for its chimerical quality and the formal austerity of image composition that characterises her works. Her work is part of prestigious private and public collections around the world. She currently lives between Paris and Carvalhal.

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Renate was part of the book Doing Good Fazer Bem Doing Well.