A special unit of the NVA (National People’s Army) in the former DDR was tasked with the production of fake weaponry and the development of camouflage techniques - an occupation they continued after the reunion of Germany. In Disguise and Deception, Anika Schwarzlose (DE. 1982) uses these practices as metaphors. With her photographs she navigates a world consisting of deception and illusion. The publication reflects on the nature of the image, on military and artistic strategies. The images speak about the relationship between originals and copies, camouflage and other illusionistic tactics. They refer to the Cold War and remind simultaneously on tactical aspects that are still current today. They raise questions about the interrelation of ethics and aesthetic; What is the relation between composition, form and colour to the content of an image.
The book combines 3 different categories of photographs: archival photographs from the army unit, photographs taken by Schwarzlose at the military workshops and photographs of tools and objects constructed by the artist.
Anika Schwarzlose (born 1982 in Berlin, Germany) lives and works in Amsterdam. She received a BFA from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and a MFA from the KHM (Konsthögskolan i Malmö), Sweden. Her work is exhibited in the Netherlands and internationally and is part of private and public collections. She received a number of grants and was nominated for several awards. This is her first publication with Kodoji Press.
