Carina Linge

   Carina Linge is a German contemporary photographer, still living and working out of Germany. She graduated with distinction from the Bauhaus University in 2006 and later went on to teach at the university, beginning in 2007. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, received multiple grants, and also participated in several art fairs.
   Carina's work references the renaissance and baroque styles of painting, while dealing with the concept of relationships and whether individuals in our society are able to form truly intimate bonds with other people. She works mostly in portraiture, though sometimes her portraits are absent of a human figure while still creating a narrative about a certain person.  She typically spends several months getting to know her subject before even beginning to photograph them, and she effectively makes use of symbols to communicate something specific about her subject.  The symbols she chooses are subtle, which allows for her images to hold the viewer's attention for a more extended amount of time while they consider all the elements existing within the frame.
   This work interests me for several reasons, but especially how she uses her photos to tell a story about a person.  I've always been drawn to portraiture, both in my own work and also in the work of other artists I enjoy, and I think Carina's work shows a nice balance between obvious and subtle statements being made simultaneously.