Friedl Kubelka: Portrait of Louise Anna Kubelka

Friedl Kubelka is one of the most renowned art photographers in Austria. In 1998 she completed one of her central works, namely the portrait of her daughter Louise Anna from birth to adulthood. This exceptional body of work is being exhibited and published for the first time in its entirety.

Since the early seventies Friedl Kubelka has focused on time structure as a parameter of expansion of the single photograph in her multi-part portrait-tableaus. "Time structure gives the form to the information rather than emphasizing the authenticity" (Friedl Kubelka).

The weekly portrait of her daughter Louise Anna over a period of 18 years documents not only the process of growing up or the development of a mother - daughter relationship, but also explores the process of photographic depiction and multi-layeredness of the photographic moment. A catalog will be published on the occasion of the exhibition: 30x38 cm, 36 pages, with a text by Anette Michelson.

Friedl Kubelka: Portrait Louise Anna Kubelka, Fotohof 1998.

...a headshot photo of her daughter every Monday from the first day of her daughter's life until her 18th year.
This act of "Monday photo," as her daughter Louise came to call it, is part ritual, part performance, part obsession.

Arranged in grids of 52 photographs and starting in 1978, we see the passing of 18 years and how it shapes a young woman's face as in a time-lapse film. The framework of photographing Louise's head in close-up against a neutral background accentuates the seeming difference in her moods although photography is too slippery a liar for a true reading.

...her "seriousness" seems to be something she grows into as she ages into her teen years.

By 9 or 10 Louise seems to be shaping her own identity and self-representation apart from her mother. Her hair styles vary and blank spaces appear in the grids where a Monday photo was missed. By the last year, the 18th, only 12 images appear in the first few months until finally the ritual is broken.

In some ways, this work is a display of a coerced collaboration that even Louise has questioned. "I have asked myself whether my mother had the right to use me as an object in this way."

RELATED PHOTO PROJECTS

OTHER ‘PASSAGE OF TIME’ PORTRAIT PROJECTS

OPALKA 1965/1–∞ (1965–present)
Roman Opalka, after every day of painting numbers in his studio, photographs his face. If only we could see documentation of the entire sequence.
Carving: A Traditional Sculpture (1972)
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The Brown Sisters (1975–present)
Nicholas Nixon photographs the Brown sisters.
The Arrow of Time (1976–present)
Diego Golberg and family sit down on June 17 for a family ritual.
One Year Performance (1980–1981)
Tehching Hsieh punches a time clock hooked up to a camera in a gallery every hour on the hour for a year. A huge Thank You to Alberto Frigo for sending me the link!
Portrait of Louise Anna Kubelka (1980–1998)
Friedl Kubelka documents the development of her daughter, from birth to adulthood.
The Downward Spiral (1983?–1997?)
"Maria Ramos" as photographed by the New York City Police Department.
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Karl Baden is second only to Roman Opalka for the logevity and glorious perfection of his daily photo project.
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Dan Hanna spins with the sun in this daily aging project.
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daily performances (1999 July 24–2009)
Marc Tasman receives a package of Polaroid film and begins a ten-year process of daily performances in Polaroid
La Photo-Sculpture (1999–2006)
Odile Marchoul discovers 'Photo-Vision' and decides to make identity pictures weekly.
Noah K. Everyday (2000 January–present)
Noah Kalina uses his video camera to try and pinpoint the stages in his life when he's changed.
Metabolismo alterado (2000?)
Héctor Falcón seems to start bodybuilding for art's sake, though I can't be totally sure as I don't understand Spanish.
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Dean Baldwin hacks his alarm clock to shoot a digital photograph when he hits the snooze button. Check out his sleeping partners!
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Pete Hocking takes a daily self-portrait and posts it to the internet. He also finds that he becomes the object of the bear community's desire, as well as a few jackasses'.
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Ahree Lee makes a nice video of three years of everyday photographs.
eyemachine (2002 January 01–present)
Andy Luginbühl takes the portraits, and then set up a system to animate the images with the eyes lined up. I did this with a year's worth of images manually a few years ago. I'd never do it manually again...
09h09 (2002 September 18–present)
Jean-Michel Gobet takes a photo at 09:09 every day and blogs about it. What's more amazing is that he's awake at 09:09 every day!
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Tom, Ralf, and Michaela make the daily photo a German family affair.
O's Daily Photo (2003 January 01–present)
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Daily Jason (2003 January 06–present)
Jason Fletcher does the 'Daily Photo Project' with goofy faces and on crack.
John Stone Fitness (2003 January 06–present)
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Russian DPP (2003 August 02–present)
Vadim Malguine shaves his head and starts taking photographs.
Daily Marqs (2003 August 27–present)
Markus does the daily photo 3/4 shot.
Jeden Tag eins mehr... (2003 September 25–present)
German Stephan H. Schumann is yet another daily shot-maker.
Twindex (2003 November 23–present)
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Daily Photo Project (2003 November 23–2006 April 14)
Phil McCombs is another daily dude, though he has some serious lapses in documentation.
Ellora Klein (2004–present)
Arno Klein's working on the full documentation of daughter Ellora. Includes video.
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Trey Bean documents his self portrait via Quicktime.
:18 Project (2004 July–2006 January)
Christine Gatti takes two photos 18 minutes after every hour, every day for 18 months. She takes one self-portrait, and then one of the environment she is in at that time. Amazing work.
Olivia Project (2004 July 25–2004 December 25)
Imelda's friend Olivia Juliana Lyles DeLuna gets her picture taken and her mom posts it on the web. How very cute! I think this project stopped at Christmas-time...bummer.
Bent Lips (2004 July 25–2005 July 25)
Priscilla smiles, and smiles, and smiles. Let's hope she keeps it up for longer than a year!
Me, Myself, and I > 27up (2004 September 16–2009 April 24)
Matthias Hupp starts the craze in Germany, in Black & White.
Daily Fratze (2005 August 04–present)
MC Winkels from Germany...
Daily Fratze (2005 August 07–present)
~~Michael Simons from Germany is apparently inspired by MC Winkels from Germany...~~ Now a site that "is a small community centered around daily photo projects. You'll find a place with room for narcissism, discussion, in short: documented lives."
Jeder-Tag (2006 January 01–present)
Anthoney from Germany is yet another white guy who looks like he's in IT doing a daily photo.
Russell Higgs (2006 July 21–present)
Russell's only been at it for a couple months, but I am flabbergasted at the results so far.
yyyymmdd (2006 November 10–present)
Taylor Everett's personal daily photo adventure.
Jedentag (2007 January 01–present)
Dimitri comes from Germany/Berlin and he takes every day pictures.
Everyday from Birth (2007 January 22–2008 January)
David P Craig's parents attempt to make him a daily-documented boy.
Daily Photo Project (2007 January 31–present)
Skip Hursh adds to the daily photo milieu.
everyday (2007 February 07–present)
Mark Curry's another fine young lad making his way along the daily photo journey.
Cheri Cheri Lady (2007 March 21–present)
Kotla: “I’m imitating others, because I can't change.”
My Maya-a-Day (2007 March 24–present)
Ben Udkow gets his Maya to be in front of the camera every day since birth.
13 to Infinity (2007 April 07–present)
David Hinds makes it over 9 months and hopes to continue FOREVER!
Documentation of Decomposition (2007 December 19–2008 October 02)
Sean Hunt MacLean adds his face to the growing collection of Daily photographers.
Blog Begins At Forty (2009 March 26–present)
gedek! begins at forty, who knows when he'll end...
Le blog de photos-tous-les-jours (2011 February 14–present)
Ganael Portet adds himself to the list.

OTHER OBSESSIVE PHOTO PROJECTS

Exactitudes (1994–present)
photographer Ari Versluis and stylist Ellie Uyttenbroek work together to systematically document the striking dress codes of various social groups. Very nice. indeed.
20 Sites n Years (1973–present)
Tom Phillips photographs 20 South London sites annually, in order, at the same time of day.
Invincible Cities (1977–present)
Along the same lines as above, Camilo Jose Vergara has been documenting America's ghettos by photographing the built environment in Harlem, the South Bronx, Chicago, Newark and other places since the 1970's.
Photo of the Day (1979 March–1997 October)
Hugh Crawford and Betsy Reid's digital version of Jamie Livingston's 'Photo of the Day' Polaroid project.
ID400 (1998?)
Tomoko Sawada gets in the photo booth for 400 different personas, including her own. [her site]
First Day (1999 january–present)
First Day Photography will sell you a photo of the sunrise on your special day.
Eat 22 (2001 March–2002 March)
Ellie Harrison documents everything she eats for one full year.
Get In My Belly! (2002 October–present)
Adam Seifer documents everything (not really) he eats.
~~Pasta-Log Yet another documentation of food, this time, only pasta, and framed beautifully.~~
American Mile Markers Matt Frondorf drives across the USA (New York to San Fran) taking a photo every mile.
30fpd: a day, a week, a year (2003 January 08–present)
Aaron Ximm is making a movie of his life, one second at a time.
Doors I Touched Today (1999 June 03)
Fluxus Midwest researches the action of doors and knobs.
Every Object Interaction (2003 September–present)
Alberto Frigo photographs and catalogues every object he interects with. It seems like he has almost replaced one of his hands with a camera. At the time he sent me this link, there were 23'308 images entered into the database.
365 Polaroids (1997)
Andy Walker presents a year's worth of polaroid self-portraits.
One a Day Project (2002)
Aimee Sealfon interacts with, then photographs, 365 people.
The Shower Project (1999)
Brian Benson's successful (?) attempt to shower with 100 different women.