Touched by Art: Jenny Martin & Katrin Kampmann

Jenny Martin lives in an apartment building managed by EVIM Teilhabe. The 66-year-old feels at home there. For many years, she has been regularly visiting Artjom Chepovetskyy’s art studio in the Eigenheim neighborhood, where she paints. Forty years ago, she was in a motorcycle accident and suffered severe head injuries; she was in a coma for a long time and then was confined to a wheelchair, but she fought her way back to life. She still thinks about her motorcycle today—a blue Kawasaki. And for the first time, she is able to approach the subject artistically through this project spanning several weeks: In collaboration with the artist Katrin Kampmann from Berlin, the duo agreed that their joint painting would feature the Kawasaki as its subject. Kampmann studied at the Berlin University of the Arts and is known for her vividly colored portraits. Her paintings are also on display at the Kunsthaus Taunusstein in the Haas van Gemmeren Collection and in other private collections. The two women get along wonderfully; the painting reflects elements of both. Jenny Martin meticulously paints the details of the bike, while Katrin adds her broad strokes of color. Every day, they start by drinking a coffee with condensed milk and sweetener when Katrin Kampmann picks up Jenny Martin in front of the building, where she arrives punctually by taxi. Then they put on music that suits riding a motorcycle, and Jenny Martin feels young again; she looks at her old photo, in which she is seen as a young woman with the heavy machine, and forgets everything else. (Text: Anja Baumgart-Pietsch, Photos: rui camilo)