She could have been a cowboy, 2018
"I am sick to death with this particular self, I want another"
Virginia Woolf, Orlando.
In this series, Niemi continues her investigations of the self. Through this new character, she explores the constraints related to the dominant social model.The woman is stuck in a pink dress whereas she would have wanted to be a cowboy roaming the Far West on wild ponies, dressed in fringe and leather.
"This is not about a cowboy, this is about wanting to be someone else" says Niemi.
As she always does, Niemi put herself in the shoes of her character. On her own, she drove a rental car in the American Western States, taking notes on locations and going back there for her shootings. Always trying to be someone else, a woman unafraid by others.
The series premiered at Steven Kasher Gallery and at AIPAD (New York, April 2018), followed by Photo London withThe Little Black Gallery (May 2018). It will be on show at Ravestijn Gallery Amsterdam from Sept. 8 through Oct. 21st, 2018.
The woman who never existed, 2016
The Woman Who Never Existed by Anja Niemi was inspired by the words of the pioneering Italian actress Eleonora Duse. Eleonora worked the international theatre stage alongside Sarah Bernhardt in the early 20th century. In contrast to Bernhardt's outgoing personality, Duse was introverted and private, rarely giving interviews. She once famously told a pushy New York journalist, that ‘away from the stage I do not exist.’
Niemi takes on the role of a fictional character visualized after reading Eleonora’s words. The Woman Who Never Existed tells the story of an actress who only exists in front of an audience, when no one is looking she starts to disappear.
In the same way as before Niemi works alone. Photographing, staging and acting out the characters in all of her photographs
Darlene & Me, 2014
Starlets, 2013
Do not disturb, 2011