“Schwarz, Rot, Braun” [Black, Red, Brown], a selection from Behrendt’s broader visual investigation “Alternative, 2019–20”, explores how the rise of the far-right in Germany is portrayed in social media. Themes such as patriotism, Euroscepticism and Islamophobia are invoked as well as the notion of strong leaders and the heteronormative nuclear family. Selecting, reproducing and rearranging these images from openly accessible digital sources, like YouTube channels and Facebook profiles, the artist highlights political development, transmission and manipulation through pixelated, transient and recycled images. By presenting his unique and manually toned cyanotypes in a grid of 7 x 5, Behrendt gives visitors an insight into an imagery which otherwise exists only in their subconscious.
Led by an interest in how politics and social change manifest in the visual realm, Berlin-based photographer Norman Behrendt combines documentary and conceptual approaches with a special dedication to image composition and its technical implementation and editing.
