Portrait of an artist

A star photographer as a silent environmental activist

From May 24 to October 6, the Landesgalerie Burgenland will be showing Semotan's well-known works such as the Römerquelle advertisements, new portraits and multi-perspective forest photographs under the title "Der doppelte Blick" (The Double View).

(Bild: ORF)

Elfie Semotan used to stage supermodels in front of her camera. Now she is fascinated by the expressive power of trees.

Elfie Semotan (82) actually wanted to become a fashion designer. But because the career prospects in this country in the 1960s were not exactly rosy, the Wels native, who graduated from the Hetzendorf fashion school in Vienna, moved to Paris, where she earned her living as a model. In the city of love, she not only met the Canadian photographer and filmmaker John Cook, who became her partner, but also discovered her enthusiasm for photography through him. So it wasn't long before Semotan switched sides and started photographing supermodels and acting stars for the world's biggest fashion and lifestyle magazines.

Well rooted
She still has a temporary home in New York as well as Vienna. But Semotan spends a lot of time in her adopted home of southern Burgenland. For 50 years, she has owned a farmhouse in Grieselstein, a district of Jennersdorf, which she uses as a retreat for her photographic expeditions in the border region with Slovenia, Hungary and Styria.

The artist in action

(Bild: ORF)

Semotan particularly enjoys staging trees in order to raise awareness of climate change and draw attention to the importance of forests. To do this, she wraps the trees in transparent fabrics, places human-sized dolls in the bushes and makes aesthetic statements with colorful plastic sheets. On Saturday at 4.30 pm (ORF2), the program "Erlebnis Österreich" is dedicated to the artist's environmental commitment.