Artist Statement : ____________________

Antje Peters (* 1979 in West-Berlin) is a visual artist working with photography and also a commercial photographer. Her personal work was shown in the exhibition Optical Illusion – Contemporary Still Life at C/O Berlin (2017) and at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, which holds XV. Shopnow.fr, 2015/16 —the first in her ongoing series— in its permanent collection. In 2019, she taught the MA course ‘Applied Photography’ at ECAL – University of Art and Design, Lausanne. Her latest book project, Catalogue, was shortlisted for the Author Book Awards at Les Rencontres Internationales de la Photographie d’Arles, France (2023). She has received several working grants from Fonds BKVB, Amsterdam, and VG Bildkunst, Bonn.

Commercially, Peters has over 15 years of experience working in the luxury product, fashion, and advertising industries. Since 2016, she has conceived and photographed editorials for every issue of Numéro Berlin, as well as for other magazines. In addition to these editorials, she has shot still life campaigns for Rimowa, Birkenstock, Louis Vuitton, Farfetch, HUGO, Akoni and Glossier. Recent editorial work will be published in the book Louis Vuitton – Bags, published by Rizzoli, NY (2026).

As an artist working with photography, her work begins with a strong need to get a grip on the never-ending production and dissemination of photographic imagery, seeking a basic orientation within the contemporary, seemingly endless ‘stream of images’.

Deeply inspired by the work of German photographer August Sander (1876–1964) and his magnum opus Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts (People of the 20th Century), in which he catalogued archetypes of his time, she has developed her own method of categorisation since 2006. A parallel influence comes from stock imagery catalogues—from their early days to the present—which, through their grouped and categorised depictions of everyday life, unintentionally reveal the stereotypes and values that a society deems relevant at a given moment.

To this day, Peters continues to organise her analogue large format photographs into sections, which she titles among others III. The Garden, IV. Ads, VI. The Breakfast, VII. Poster, XI. Illusion, XII. Desserts, and XV. Shopnow.fr. Her photographic series have developed into one large catalogue titled the ‘Archive series’.

Through this self-created archive, Peters reflects on and channels her experience and perception of the images she finds herself surrounded by—mainly advertising, fashion, and product imagery—that she has absorbed over time: on the internet, in magazines and books, or in public space.

Though each series may appear visually familiar and easily adaptable at first glance, each has a distinct and deeper focus. They often recreate and analyse commercial imagery, exploring the seductive aesthetics of photography, sometimes with a touch of visual humor, as in XI. Illusion (2011–2016). Since 2015, Peters has been particularly interested in the stereotypes of e-commerce photography, which led to the ongoing series XV. Shopnow.fr, an exploration of the webshop as both a concept and an image. Other series, such as XIX. Oeuvre and XX. GoSees, continue her interest in adapting well-known photographic strategies, but their aesthetic and visual language is closer to that of classic documentary photography.

Some of her photographs have been materialised as artist books and framed objects. In exhibitions, she is particularly interested in the space between decoration and art installation, raising questions about how commercialism and shop window design influence the concept of “Art” and the art installation (and vice versa). Her images, sometimes presented in colourful or matching frames on stands, allow the photographs to become objects—they become products themselves. Together, image and placement serve to re-examine the fine line between art and decoration.

Because of her commercial photography work, she seems to have become even more aware of the stereotypes she references in her personal series. For her, art and commercial photography constantly influence and change one another.

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