CONTEMPORARY JEWELLERY

Johanna Zellmer

As a New Zealand resident Johanna Zellmer wonders which label she chooses to identify with: German, Pakeha, Other?
"It is interesting for me, as a German, to tick the box 'Other'. Germans have, since the second world war, been thought of as those who took otherness to an extreme."

Johanna's work with German commemorative coins questions the challenges of national representation, an uncomfortable topic for Germany. The jeweller has re-configured the complete set of German commemorative 10DM coins. Each coin was cut and forged, then inserted into a custom made solander display box embossed with the text of the coin’s rim, which remains legible on the base of the new ‘coinscape’. These coinscape scenes commemorate significant milestones in German history that may have been overlooked by many 'Others'.

Fingers has three (out of the total 50) solander box sets on display

1972 Summer Olympics in Munich

The 1972 Summer Olympics were the second Summer Olympics to be held in Germany, after the 1936 Games in Berlin, which had taken place under the Nazi regime. Mindful of the connection, the West German Government were anxious to take the opportunity of the Munich Olympics to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, as shown by the Games' official motto, "the Happy Games." Soon, however, the killings of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian gunmen in an event known as the Munich massacre took center stage.

150th Birthday of Robert Koch

Heinrich Hermann Robert Koch was a Prussian physician awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1905 and is considered one of the founders of microbiology.

Reconstruction of the Frauenkirche in Dresden

Built in the 18th century, the church was destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II. It has been reconstructed as a landmark symbol of reconciliation between former warring enemies.

© all images copyright Fingers

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