Isabelle Wenzel is a German photographer, artist and former acrobat. Through the combination of her experiences, Wenzel’s photographs test the body’s limitations to explore an instinctive and intuitive human movement that has become a characteristic of the artist.<\/p>\n
In conversation with SLEEK for the launch of SLEEK Editions, Wenzel opens up about everything from her early upbringing, the ritual that led to understanding her body language, the inspiration behind \u2018Look at Me,\u2019 and how Nick Cave always gets her in the groove.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":101414,"id":101414,"title":"1sleek","filename":"1sleek.jpg","filesize":43855,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/sleek-editions-in-conversation-with-isabelle-wenzel\/1sleek-2\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"1sleek-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":101411,"date":"2022-07-19 15:00:36","modified":"2022-07-19 15:00:36","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1415,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","thumbnail-width":73,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1415,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1415,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1415,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1415,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1415,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/1sleek.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1415}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Isabelle Wenzel, 'Look at Me,' for SLEEK 71. Available at SLEEK Store."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
SLEEK: Before your career as an artist and photographer, you trained professionally as an acrobat. Can you tell us about that? When did you shift to your current practice?<\/p>\n
Isabelle Wenzel: I was around five when I started proper training. But before that, I was already fooling around, doing lots of movement work and inventing challenges for myself. My mum has always told me that ever since I was very little, I\u2019ve said that I’ll be an acrobat.<\/p>\n
S: Really?<\/p>\n
IW: Yeah, other kids would say they\u2019d want to be a zoo keeper but I was sure I wanted to be an acrobat. Then coincidentally, my mother introduced me to her colleague who was an acrobatics teacher. So, I trained to a professional level, then realised at a certain point that I\u2019m not all that fond of the concept of a traditional acrobat. That\u2019s when I turned to fun sports like skateboarding, and then I started doing that professionally.<\/p>\n
S: It seems like you were very physically gifted.<\/p>\n
IW: Yeah, it\u2019s my \u2018gift\u2019 let\u2019s say. Whichever sports I got into, I was very good at it. But, I had a knee accident while skateboarding and because I couldn\u2019t do any sports during this time, I looked for something to do. It was out of this boredom that I thought about formal education.<\/p>\n
S: What happened next?<\/p>\n
IW: I wasn\u2019t interested in science or being a teacher so, I thought, design. I made a portfolio and applied to an art school but they came back to me and advised me to study photography. I thought, “Why not? If they\u2019re telling me that, that\u2019s probably easier to do, so, whatever!\u201d [laughs].<\/p>\n
S: So that was your introduction to photography?<\/p>\n
IW: Yeah, then I figured that I really like photography because so much of it is about how we look into the world and how we look at bodies, and of course, bodies are absolutely my background.<\/p>\n
I also liked this aspect of mortality. Photography is always a medium that is capturing things from the past for the future or the present and I was very interested in exploring that idea. At first, I started by photographing other people, but then I realised I didn\u2019t enjoy the power of telling someone what to do in front of the camera. It felt a bit ridiculous, a bit strange, like, “Why should I tell someone how to move?”<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when I decided I can use my own body as an instrument or a sculpture. It worked out because I\u2019ve always preferred to express my own ideas. My teachers at the time were also encouraging me to use my physical background and I ended up being my own model for ten years or so. I would use the self-release button on a tripod and do this repetitively, running in front of the camera, and then check the image on the screen. It really became a performative act.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":101415,"id":101415,"title":"reigen","filename":"reigen.jpg","filesize":29652,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/sleek-editions-in-conversation-with-isabelle-wenzel\/reigen\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"reigen","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":101411,"date":"2022-07-19 15:00:40","modified":"2022-07-19 15:00:40","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1414,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","thumbnail-width":73,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1414,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1414,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1414,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1414,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1414,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/reigen.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1414}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Isabelle Wenzel, 'Look at Me,' for SLEEK 71. Available at SLEEK Store."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"
S: It\u2019s interesting to hear about you being your own subject for ten or more years. I can see how the physical endurance from your background in sports really comes to play. Even the way you describe the repetitive method sounds like rigorous sports training; testing your limits and the constant challenge to improve.<\/p>\n
IW: Absolutely. In these years, I started to develop my own body language and through my own \u2018training,\u2019 I\u2019ve come to recognise my personal style.<\/p>\n
S: I also like how you present movement in contrast to the idea of \u2018mortality\u2019 in photography. To me, those are conflicting ideas because movement is to be in constant flow, but photography can be used to hold onto a specific moment.<\/p>\n
IW: But, on the other hand, the process of making an image feels like extending time. Capturing something might feel like a short moment, but the awareness of the body, sound, etc, during the process of photography seems to contradict that too.<\/p>\n
S: From that explanation, the process sounds a lot like performance art. There seems to be a ritual that takes place from the beginning until the end.<\/p>\n
IW: Yeah, I think I\u2019m also at a point where I feel I\u2019m becoming more of a performer [laughs].<\/p>\n
S: And does the ritual change based on different projects?<\/p>\n
IW: No, it\u2019s really become a practice. We even work with the same playlist. It\u2019s funny because we have the same playlist and as soon as the same songs play, I immediately tap into the same emotions that make me react. It always takes me to the same mindset that allows me to perform.<\/p>\n
S: What songs are in the playlist?<\/p>\n
IW: There\u2019s a lot of Nick Cave, but also London Grammar.<\/p>\n"},{"acf_fc_layout":"images","gallery":[{"ID":101416,"id":101416,"title":"sleek91","filename":"sleek91.jpg","filesize":93899,"url":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/de\/article\/sleek-editions-in-conversation-with-isabelle-wenzel\/sleek91-2\/","alt":"","author":"1","description":"","caption":"","name":"sleek91-2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":101411,"date":"2022-07-19 15:00:42","modified":"2022-07-19 15:00:42","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1080,"height":1405,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","thumbnail-width":74,"thumbnail-height":96,"medium":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","medium-width":1080,"medium-height":1405,"medium_large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","medium_large-width":1080,"medium_large-height":1405,"large":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","large-width":1080,"large-height":1405,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","1536x1536-width":1080,"1536x1536-height":1405,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","2048x2048-width":1080,"2048x2048-height":1405,"trp-custom-language-flag":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","trp-custom-language-flag-width":9,"trp-custom-language-flag-height":12,"wpvr_mobile":"https:\/\/www.sleek-mag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/sleek91.jpg","wpvr_mobile-width":1080,"wpvr_mobile-height":1405}}],"settings":{"fit_width":"6","caption":"Isabelle Wenzel, 'Look at Me,' for SLEEK 71. Available at SLEEK Store."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"text_area","text_area":"