"As an artist I´m happy if I create a picture that touches a person or a family and enriches their lives."

Dear Peter, for ALPENMADONNA you traveled to Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Slovenia and photographed 40 sculptures in some of the best collections in Europe. Which picture was the first?

The first image was of the Pacher Madonna from the Diocesan Museum in Bressanone. Actually it was still just an impression at that time. I was visiting the museum and another visitor accidentally triggered the flash on his smartphone. I was standing opposite him. Backlit, the sculpture suddenly seemed to come alive. This intense impression was the beginning of ALPENMADONNA.

And then the journey began?

Then began a long period of research, numerous inquiries, and many preliminary talks. I was incredibly fortunate that so many people have believed in ALPENMADONNA and opened many doors for me. I have been granted very special access. And I am deeply grateful for that.

I am very impressed that your images as well as the sculptures you photographed are so different, even though they all depict the same theme: Mary, Mother of God.

This is truly astonishing. Some of the sculptures I photographed were created over 800 years ago, the vast majority date from the Middle Ages. Mary has been reinterpreted again and again. The images naturally reflect the major shifts in art history, from Romanesque to Gothic, and into the early Baroque. But these major movements don't explain this diversity. Each of these artists delved into their own soul and looked for their deepest feelings, their strongest longings. From these, they shaped these gazes, these poses, these faces. I think Mary became a projection of this fundamental thoughts and feelings. Artworks make these emotions accessible to so many of us.

This means this are also images of the deepest human emotion.

I like this idea. Some of these gazes are sweet, many offer us comfort, others are very stern... It is difficult to describe in words what we can see. And perhaps even more important, words aren't enough to describe what we viewers can feel when we engage with these images. Images of Mary were never about the dream of a single artist. They're about a dream shared by many. Some artists are able to capture the fleeting nature of a dream and transform it into a sculpture of wood...

…or capture it in a photograph. You mentioned earlier that these sculptures reinterpreted an idea over 800 years. You are part of this tradition. You transform these sculptures yourself.

That statement is a great compliment, which I gladly accept. Thank you very much. It's true, that's my approach. I want to create a contemporary image of Mary. My medium as an artist is photography. As a photographer, you first need something to photograph. And with my light and my approach I try to create a new image. 

 "The Middle Ages are present in almost all of my artworks – thankfully, without the living conditions of most people back then."

In ALPENMADONNA art also serves as a connection between centuries of human history...

This thought has fascinated me from the very beginning. These objects are witnesses of the human family, spanning centuries. The Middle Ages are present in almost all of my artworks – thankfully, without the living conditions of most people back then.

Do you have a favorite picture?

I always like to ask that question, too. And the answer is usually the same: almost everyone has a picture they particularly like, and it's almost always a different one. I really like some pictures, but as an artist, I'm  happy when I create a picture that touches a person or a family and enriches their lives.

This might also explain another aspect of ALPENMADONNA that seems unusual. Many photographers limit their images through editions. Your images are not limited in number.

An important goal of my work is to create artworks that make life more beautiful for many people. I think it is a great technical achievement of photography that images can be reproduced without limits.

Looking at one of your pictures is a way to share wishes, hopes, and even worries. What do you wish for ALPENMADONNA?

I hope these images reach those who will find joy in them. And I would love to build an ALPENMADONNA chapel. I'm still looking for the right partner for this. So please get in touch if you're reading this and find this idea as beautiful as I do.

Peter Unterthurner lived in Berlin for many years and worked as a photo editor for the weekly newspaper DIE ZEIT and the magazine GEO. After the birth of his twin daughters, he and his family moved to Bolzano in South Tyrol, Italy, where he also grew up.