Last year, Graf introduced herself to the Sarajevo audience with her exhibition "Sacred and Profane" (Sveto i Profano) at the Bosnian Cultural Center. In this body of work, she explored the contrasts between the spiritual and the mundane in South India, bringing intimate visual records of rituals, the daily life of workers, and the transience of deities following festivals.

This time, the audience had the opportunity to hear about Graf's passion for analog technique. In a digital world where photographs can be heavily modified, she chooses the analog path—a much more complicated process, yet one she finds far more engaging.

"Art is what you create in the moment while you are exclusively behind the camera," she says.

Graf emphasized that through photography, she seeks to interpret the world. Stating that she never truly felt Austrian, she explained that art and travel are her ways of seeking answers to the questions of who she is and where she is going.

Despite being a proponent of analog—with a firm stance that she is interested in photography itself rather than the technical equipment—Graf remains optimistic regarding the global technological revolution. Traveling through India, which she considers her home, from 1994 to the present day, she has witnessed positive changes: the arrival of electricity, industrialization, and processes that have fostered the growth of the middle class. Furthermore, she stresses that thanks to technology, the world as we knew it has come to an end, and we must all join forces to create a new, shared world, unburdened by borders and differences.

Renate Graf also noted that she feels at home in Sarajevo, describing it as a city where East and West, four religions, and many cultures meet, much like India.

"I am fascinated by the resilience of the people of Sarajevo in the face of all the catastrophes they have survived in the past," she says.

Jasmin Duraković also raised important questions regarding the role of the artist in today's world. He noted that many artists are becoming producers strictly controlled by capital; instead of being a response to social, political, and cultural processes, art often serves merely as an extension of those narratives. However, the International Biennial of Visual Arts "SubDokumenta Sarajevo '25" demonstrated how major projects can be realized outside of these systems and without international donors—driven solely by enthusiasm and the connections of Jusuf Hadžifejzović and everyone else involved. The Biennial is proof that art can remain independent, ensuring that the selection of artists and works remains relevant and critical of our current reality.

Graf concluded on an optimistic note, despite having witnessed and "light-written" (photographed) the war in Gaza and many other conflicts, instances of violence, political pressure, and poverty. she stated that the artist's mission is to be like a phoenix: when everything collapses, the artist creates a document and a work of art, giving everything a new value.

Renate Graf is renowned for her work in analog techniques, black-and-white photography, and traditional darkroom developing processes. Her photographic journey began in 1993 with an expedition along the Silk Road alongside the artist Anselm Kiefer. Over the past decades, she has traveled through China, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Nepal, and particularly India, whose landscapes, rituals, festivals, and daily life profoundly shape her body of work.

The uniqueness of her work lies in the fusion of photography and text, ranging from travel notes with handwritten quotes to large, hand-bound books that become artworks in their own right. The author herself emphasizes that she is not a "photographer in the classical sense of the word," as her photographs do not merely define, but rather bear witness and carry a deeper purpose.

Through her aesthetics, Renate Graf brings the focus back to the process, the analog approach, and intimate witnessing, offering the audience an experience of timelessness in an era dominated by digital photography.

Exhibitions:

  • 2025 – Centro Eco Cultural Sueli Pontes, Rio de Janeiro
  • 2025 – Terra Fracturata, MAB, Art Museum, Brasília, Brazil
  • 2025 – Book signing: "Such a Long Stay in France," Galerie du Passage
  • 2024/2025 – Jodhpur, "Jodhpur in Black and White, A Walk Through the Walled City," JDH, Walled City Project
  • 2024/2025 – Crux Gallery, Athens, "Sadly, it is Paradise"
  • 2024 – "Evidences of Perception," Mexico City, Pablo Goebels Fine Art
  • 2024 – Bosnian Cultural Center, Sarajevo, "Sacred and Profane"
  • 2024 – "Photography Changed My Life," group exhibition, Crux Gallery, Athens
  • 2024 – Crux Gallery at Spark Artfair
  • 2024 – "Gratitude to the Gods," Mosteiro de Santo André, Ancede, Baião, Portugal
  • 2023 – Art Athina, Crux Gallery, Athens
  • 2023 – Crux Gallery, Athens, "The Crux Bestiary: Artifacts, Allegories, Representations"
  • 2022 – Terra Fracturata, MAC, Rio de Janeiro, Niterói
  • 2022 – Grande Mestres, Mosteiro de Santo André, Ancede, Baião, Portugal
  • 2022 – "Travels Along the Silk Road 1993–2021," exhibition projects at three locations in Istanbul: Austrian Cultural Institute, French Institute, MUSE Contemporary
  • 2022 – "Re-traveling Through Time and the Silk Road Routes," CER Modern, Ankara, Turkey
  • 2022 – "Honor and Art at Este," Reginart Collection invitation, Punta del Este, Uruguay
  • 2021 – Renate Graf: "Sacred Landscapes," Slag Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2021 – "Re-traveling Through Time and the Silk Road Routes," House of Photography, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
  • 2019/2020 – "Chronicles of a Photographer: Thoughts Become Images," Palacio Angiós, Mallorca, Portugal
  • 2019 – "Traces in the Sand," Garage 229, Stuttgart, Germany
  • 2018 – "Silence in the Mountains," Ziyan Museum, Changsha, China
  • 2018 – "Travelogue: A Journey Through Picturesque Traces," Casal Solleric, Palma de Mallorca, Spain
  • 2017 – Galerie Michael Schultz, Berlin
  • 2017 – "Travelogue," David Nolan Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2015 – "Long Expeditions, New Books," Galerie du Passage, Paris, France
  • 2013 – Book presentation "Diary 1992–2012," Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
  • 2013 – Book presentation "Diary 1992–2012" and poetry reading, Gallery Anthony d’Offay and Hannah Barry Gallery, London, UK
  • 2013 – Book presentation "Diary 1992–2012," David Nolan Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2013 – Book presentation "Diary 1992–2012," Pierre Passebon, Galerie du Passage, Paris, France
  • 2011 – Photographs for the set design of Antonio Vivaldi’s opera "Orlando Furioso" – directed by Pierre Audi and Patrick Kinmonth, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris, France