In ambivalence between strength and vulnerability, the figures in Barbara Lüdde’s ink drawings move within a surreal in-between space, a space of thought. Clothing, gestures, and accessories appear as cultural codes and become the “armor” of the individual – an expression of self-staging and at the same time a mirror of social belonging.
At the center of Lüdde’s work lies an interest in signs: she investigates how symbols, fashions, and everyday objects carry meaning and enable social positioning. From her own image archive of historical and contemporary references – ranging from Gothic drapery to fidget spinners – emerge drawings created in a bricolage technique, weaving disparate signs into multilayered visual networks.
The gray nuances, applied in multiple layers, lend the works an unusual softness that stands in contrast to what is depicted and makes its hidden complexity visible. In her installations, Lüdde expands the drawings with fabrics, sound, and spatial components, creating atmospheres that intensify the ambivalence of closeness and distance, protection and solitude.
Her works are thus not portraits; they are reflections on the functions of cultural signs within a complex society.