The Missing Week

Galerie Trois Points is proud to announce the official representation of the artist Natascha Niederstrass who will present The Missing Week, a solo exhibition from November 21 to December 19. Interested by issues of narrativity in photography, the artist explores the possibilities offered by reconstitution methods, specifically operating in the margins between notions of truth and fiction Weaving referents from various faits divers, art history and investigations notes, Niederstrass here focuses on the strongly connoted story of Elizabeth Short, also known as the ‘’Black Dahlia’’, who was found murdered in Los Angeles in 1947.

Using archival records of the LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) and research published by Steve Hodel, a private detective, former police investigator and son of the alleged murderer of Elizabeth Short, Natascha Niederstrass has produced a series of photographs offering a subjective look at the different locations where witnesses reported sightings of the young woman during the week she went missing prior to being found dead. Over sixty years later, not only this visual and descriptive reconstitution traces back the victim’s path, it also reveals an anachronistic superimposition of these places at different times to produce a narrative tainted by history.

Niederstrass’ aim is twofold. Through this body of work, the artist questions the veracity of the statements made in several newspaper articles of the time, suggesting that by attempting to manipulate the information regarding the victim, many media sources have indirectly legitimized the young woman’s murder, making it almost comprehensible to the public. Natascha Niederstrass uses forensic aesthetics that can be a surprisingly effective tool, for it serves both as an approachable way for the general public to pry open the often hermetic shell of contemporary art, and as a viable critical model for understanding art that relies on clues, obscurities, and residue. It enables the viewer to be involved in the reconstruction of a history, a scene, a speculative action or event which is excluded from “the visible”.

Natascha Niederstrass holds a Bachelor’s degree from Concordia University (BFA) and a Master’s degree in Fine Arts from York University inToronto (MFA). Her work has been presented in various solo and group exhibitions. She has exhibited her work in a solo exhibition at Plein sud, who awarded her the Plein sud grant in 2005. She took part in 2009, in Confluence, jointly presented at the Musée régional de Rimouski and Maison de la culture Frontenac, as part of the event De l’île à la mer, curated by Bernard Lamarche In 2010, she participated in the Off Manif d’Art 5 in Quebec entitled Accident. We have presented her work in a fist solo exhibition in 2014 and the same year, she also participated in an exhibition at Occurence – Espace d’Art et d’essai contemporain. Her most recent work was shown at Gallery 101 in Ottawa during the summer of 2015. She is currently working on a project in collaboration with One Contemporary Art in Venice, a non-profitcultural organization founded by the curator Pier Paolo Scelsi who is currently its director. This project is scheduled to be shown in Venice in 2017.

Press release