About Lothar Troeller
“Children of the fire” is a series reflecting Troeller’s personal journey through crisis and destiny that is physically formed by not only the elements of the earth but by the conscious mind that guides them. The German American artist and photographer whose exhibition work spans over multiple decades and continents, now invites us to observe his Children of the Fire with introspective intent. His visually diverse yet equally striking works are simultaneously vibrant and painful. The raw and heartbreaking series is charged with a sense of perseverance in the face of adversity. The scorched surface give’s way to new beginnings, as hardships often do.
New Brunswick Art Salon 2021-Photography: “Shifted Nature”
Artist Personal Website: www.lotroeller.com
Email: lo.troeller@gmail.com
Artist Statement
Like Paulo Coelho de Souza on his road to Compostela, my journey in life to becoming a photographer is a search for the fulfillment of destiny, the embracing of self by spirit through many trials. Two years ago, my home burned down and much of my photographic work was destroyed in the inferno. The results of this experience are fragments of pieces salvaged from the wreckage -and reinterpreted almost alchemically -that I call my “Children of Fire,” fossilized remains of photographs that, in their new forms, call forth transcendent beauty. Using a box-cutter to peel apart the remnants of the works from their melted photographic sleeves, I became a gold-panner in the creation of these new images, now abstract and emotionally expressive and mysterious testaments to new life from vestiges of the past and opportunities to create beauty from destruction.
The fire occurred on Easter night 2016, a time of Christian spiritual renewal. It was my rebirth too, and although the blaze was catastrophic, I was not devastated by it as this was not the first time I cheated calamity; having survived a severe motorcycle accident some years ago and having left New Orleans on the last flight out before hurricane Katrina struck. For me, these works are profoundly real, honoring the memories of the original slides as children bringing hope, after so much sad loss. They are my survivors of heartbreak, just as my life is the victory over tragic finalities resolutely documented here.
Exhibitions
“Children of Fire#1 & #4”-St. Paul the Apostle in Manhattan 2019
“Children of Fire” –Boyd | Satellite Gallery, solo show, New Orleans 2018
“Manhattan” –Group show at iLon Gallery, New York City 2018
“Colombian Resilience -Faces from San Carlos” -San Miguel de Allende, Mexico 2017
“Testimonies of Resilience” -Centro Colombo Americano, solo show, Medellin 2015
“Testimonies of Resilience” -House of Culture, San Carlos, solo show, Colombia 2015
“Testimonies of Resilience” -Asamblea Departamental De Risaralda, Pereira, Colombia 2015
“Return from Horror” –IPA/ Lucie Award, Honorable Mention 2014
“Lemon Man”, Latin American Fotografia 2013
“Titanic”, Foto Place, Middlebury VT 2013
Medellin, Centro Cultural de Medellin, Colombia 2011
American Temples, inFocus Gallery, Cologne 2011
No Longer Empty, Group Show at the Chelsea Hotel 2009
“Chelsea Hotel through the Eyes of Photographers” 2008
The National Arts Club, New York, “body biography/ email love” 2004
Palm Beach Fotofusion Gallery –“Linda, Italy” 2003
Gallery Stimultania, Strasbourg, France -“body biography/ email love” 2002
911 Here is New York Exhibition, Prince Street Gallery, NYC 2002
Salt Factory, Salzburg, Austria 2000
Citibank Reutlingen -“Snow Fences” 1996
Weingarten University -“Men at Work” 1992
Awards
“Covid Beach #2”–Nominee Spider Black&White Award 2020
“Gowanus Canal Brooklyn”-Nominee Spider Black & White Award 2018
“Empire State Building”–Nominee Spider Black & White Award 2016
“Titanic” -Nominee at the 7th Annual Photography Masters Cup 2014
“Lemon Man, Medellin” -IPA/ Lucie Award, Honorable Mention 2013
“American Temples”, IPA/ Lucie Award: Third Place 2011
“Medellin”, IPA/ Lucie Award: Honorable Mention 2011
Px3 Paris, Honorable Mention, “Looking Down” 2008
Artist Interview