stadt_land_mensch 2008 - 2009

eine annäherung an die städteregion aachen
approaching the städteregion aachen

.....................deutsch | english
68 pages | 39 photos | text (dt / engl) : Euro 30.00 + packing and postage | ISBN 978-3-00-027164-9

Some signed copies can be ordered from me: buy the book

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18 days / 1400 kilometers by car / 113 films – 10 exposures each.

No content guidelines. The only condition: to photograph in each of the 10 cities and districts
of theStädteRegion. A search for similarities, dealing with the question of a ”regional identity”.

(...) I set foot on uncharted land. I have in mind my photographic conception and my experience of life,
knowing well that they will respond with flexibility to the demands of reality. That makes me feel sure.
I aim to approach people and places with an open mind, to get involved with them without prejudice but
with subjectivity. When I take photographs, I take up a point of view -- emotional, content-related, artistic.
I make decisions. How do I see that? What is my position? These decisions successively influence the
openness of my mind and help to configure my individual point of view. They direct the perspective of my
perception.

As a result I argue with images. I get involved, follow the unconscious flow of perception, sensitize myself
to my feelings while looking. My artistic documentary photography is connected to the question of the
individuality of a human being. It explores the relationship between the individual presenting his/her
personality and the society to which he/she presents it.

When I drive, I move through the landscape and take in the visual impressions. As well as paying attention
to the function of driving, I also follow my interest for rural and urban scenes, and intuitively decide in
which direction the journey will continue. Which scenery attracts my interest, on the right hand side or on
the left, straight ahead or shall I turn around? Where can I stop, where can I turn? While looking out for an
appropriate opportunity, I drive on until I have found a place either to stop or to turn. In many cases I drive
back the same way which gives me a completely new perspective on the same landscape. (...)

(...) In my mind I play with reflections concerning definitions and ideas like home, identity, life, sense, mind,
values, classifications etc. I ask myself: What is, and what is really important? In my mind‘s discourse
I continuously check my subjective values against the new, somewhat surprising impressions. Does that,
what I see, show a hackneyed cliche, or do I see something substantial? (...)

(...) With this project I have come full circle. I once again experienced the images as possibilities. The point
is to sensitize myself to them and then find them. In my view on photography the genuine artistic potential
lies in the apparent simplicity of documentation. The invisible but modelling eyes, ideas and operations
are essential to extracting one individual possibility from the multiple possibilities. This hidden process is
meant to tempt the viewer to look at the imagery through the eyes of the photographer. In the guise of
clarity every image actually reveals complex possibilities for interpretation.


<<<... Commissioned and curated by: Dr. Nina Mika-Helfmeier // Kreis Aachen, StädteRegion Aachen