C-Prints, 2018 - 2024

Over se­ver­al years, I pho­to­gra­phed my niece to ex­plo­re the in­ter­connec­ti­ons bet­ween child­hood, na­ture, and iden­ti­ty. Through her im­me­di­a­te pre­sence, an ori­gi­nal, pre-ver­bal ac­cess to the en­vi­ron­ment emer­ge­d—an ac­cess that of­fers rare in­sight into pro­ces­ses of self-em­po­w­er­ment, tem­po­ral per­cep­ti­on, and per­so­nal grow­th.

In the en­coun­ter bet­ween body and lands­ca­pe, it be­co­mes vi­si­ble how na­ture exists not only as an ex­ter­nal space but also acts as a re­so­nance cham­ber for emo­ti­o­nal states. It ap­pears si­mul­ta­neous­ly as a space of pro­tec­ti­on and as a pro­jec­ti­on sur­face for vul­ne­ra­bi­li­ty, re­si­li­ence, and fra­gi­li­ty.
Wi­thin this con­text, the child be­co­mes a fi­gu­re of un­fil­te­red pre­sence—free of cul­tu­ral at­tri­bu­ti­ons, fluid in the mo­ment, and sen­si­ti­ve to at­mo­s­phe­ric chan­ges. Pho­to­gra­phic ob­ser­va­ti­on re­veals how child­hood and en­vi­ron­ment shape one an­o­ther. Iden­ti­ty ari­ses here in the field of ten­si­on bet­ween per­cep­ti­on, na­ture, and em­bo­died me­mo­ry.
Damla is thus both a per­so­nal do­cu­ment, a study of gro­wing up, and a po­e­tic ex­plo­ra­ti­on of how we, as human beings, come into re­la­ti­on with our sur­roun­dings.

An on­going pro­ject ex­plo­ring iden­ti­ty and child­hood. The se­ries is also availa­ble as a book of the same name. The pro­ject "Damla" was re­a­li­zed with the sup­port of the "Auf geht's!" grant from the state of North Rhine-West­pha­lia.
Click on a pic­ture to see it in full for­mat