Why I Don't Photograph People

It is the sentence I open every conversation about TWO WAYS OF BEING REAL with — and I mean it literally: I do not photograph people. I create a stage on which they can show themselves.

The people in this series choose their place, their activity and their words themselves. I stand at the threshold and give the situation the form in which it becomes visible. Nothing more — and that is already a great deal.

Each work consists of three parts: an analogue Polaroid series, an unedited one-minute video and the portrayed person's own statement. The sequence is deliberate. First you encounter the picture — wordlessly — and you begin to judge. Then the video shifts your gaze. Finally, it is not my words that speak, but theirs.

The actual work does not come into being on the stage. It comes into being in you — in the moment you notice how your judgement was formed, and whether you are willing to question it.

The first sessions are underway. In this blog, Steffi and I will tell the story of how the series comes to life — from the threshold, of course.