Lorenza Böttner
b. 1959, Punto Arenas, Chile; d. 1994, Munich, Germany
Lorenza Böttner, who painted with her feet and mouth and who used photography, drawing, dance, installation and performance as means of aesthetic expression, defies processes of ‘desubjectivation’ and desexualisation, internment and ‘invisibilisation’ to which transgender and functionally diverse bodies are subjected. Born as Ernst Lorenz Böttner in 1959 into a German family living in Chile, he suffered an accident when he was eight years old, which resulted in the loss of both arms. Considered disabled by the medical regime, he was institutionalised with the ‘Contergan children’ in Germany, where he moved with his mother after the accident. In 1978, he became a student at the Gesamthochschule (today the Kunsthochschule) in Kassel. She changed her name to Lorenza Böttner and further developed her artistic practice of drawing and painting through the incorporation of dance, performance, photography and fashion design. Lorenza Böttner died of HIV related causes after 16 years of intense art production. A small selection of Lorenza Böttner’s artwork was on show in 2017 at documenta 14 in Kassel. In 2018 and 2019, La Virreina Centre de la Imatge in Barcelona and Württembergischer Kunstverein in Stuttgart co-produced the first comprehensive solo show of the artist, curated by Paul B. Preciado.
CONTRIBUTIONS
Selected works and documentation, 1979–93
Paintings (pastel, watercolour), drawings, photographs, video, and archival documents
Courtesy: private collections
Presented at Bergen Kunsthall
Untitled, 1985
Pastel chalk on paper, 129.5 × 157.8 cm
Private collection
Presented at KODE 1 Permanenten / Salon
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