Annette Kelm Leaves, 2016

The work depicts dried leaves on a backdrop made of apparently unused American one-dollar notes arranged in an orderly grid. The crumbled rust-colored leaves of a red oak tree and the crisp currency, both originate from North America. Their contrast of color and texture subtly suggests other differences — between natural and human-made objects, individual and serial forms.

In her Money series, Annette Kelm combines banknotes with plants, ornaments, or often surprising props. At first glance, these images lure the viewer in with their playfulness. But what seems so apparent in the contrast between the two types of objects at first, becomes more complicated once the cultural and social developments in which money, consumption, the economy as a whole, and even in this case, references to the climate crisis, are brought into the discussion.