Abstract of the accomplished photographic work
The series State of the Region documents the visible traces of structural change in various German regions caused by lignite coal mining and the slow process of Germany’s exit from it.
For many decades the urban and rural spaces of the region were shaped by the invasive nature of this industry as much as by its economic benefits. Human encroachment on nature has created new landscapes and irretrievably destroyed old ones. Still the giant teeth of the massive excavators dug deep into the earth, creating vast deserts while elsewhere the same deserts are being flooded creating Europe’s biggest artificial lake landscape. On its shores new destinations for tourists and local recreation areas are being created, waiting for tourists. State of the Region is an ongoing long-term photographic study of urban and rural spaces as natural and human habitats and the different processes of structural change that are shaping them.
Description of the project you intend to pursue through the Prize
Colours Of Water is an artistic documentary photography project on the interconnectivity between bodies of water that are located in distant geographies. The climate emergency has made it clear that every human activity from the mining industry and agriculture to complex production chains is having an impact on the planet as a whole. Regions as far away as Brandenburg, Germany and the Caribbean Coast of Colombia bleed into each other when we look at their relationship and issues with water from different angles, geopolitically, environmentally or socioculturally. Being based in both of those regions I propose a photographic project that follows the links and parallels between them. I am interested in human practices around bodies of water, industrial structures, urban and rural architectures forming habitats next to water, and water landscapes being affected by human activities. The aim of the project is the precise visual representation of these links through photography.