Picture Series

For me, one defining moment was the beginning of my studies at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts. In particular, theoretical examination with the medium of photography, as well as with depiction and representation, dramatically changed my view of photography. I became aware of how important it is to me to have a concept as a foundation for a project. This is why I tend to describe myself less as a visual journalist and more as an artist who works sociopolitically.

Since I grew up next door to a refugee accommodation centre, I had already been examining places for some time. When accommodating refugees took on a new presence in 2015, the architecture and location of these shelters stood out more and more for me. I found it telling how little those buildings had been integrated into the urban context and it excited me to feel what their architecture evoked in me. I had the feeling that structures that are seldom, or not at all, expressed in language were visualised through the architecture of the accommodation centres. So I started photographing them.

In my opinion, the visual journalism of the future will, above all, be multifaceted. I think that more diverse perspectives are needed, as with old visual strategies, to approach subjects in different ways in order to tell more than one story. I think in doing this, we should expect more from viewers than we currently do. For instance, in the context of journalism we should show more complex, more conceptual projects with new visual approaches that require viewers to examine the subject in more depth.