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Annette Kelm is noted for her meticulous pictorial compositions, which she typically arranges in her studio and captures with large- or medium-format cameras. The conceptually exacting placement of the materials yields works that strike a delicate balance between photographic definition, objects in staged settings, and surfaces. “Dschungel” (“Jungle”) was created at the Deutsche Bundesbank’s Counterfeit Money Unit in Mainz, where Kelm accessorized a potted tropical plant with forged 500-euro notes. Although the motif appears at the edge of the picture, almost like an afterthought, the purple banknotes, standing out from the fresh green and the white of the wall, attract the beholder’s gaze. In light of the ever-advancing virtualization of money and the inexorable rise of contactless payment methods in the jungle of finance, these forgeries take on the sweet charm of a remnant of the past.
