Breda - Cambridge Photography Symposium 02/05/14

Juliane Herrmann

AKV St Joost

 

 

I´m a socially engaged documentary maker and the camera is my tool to express my ideas. Depending on the theme, I make still or moving images. I consider my work to be slow journalism.

Within my research I explore cultural identities and individuality. My starting point is curiosity and the wish to understand others. Inspired by new ways in visual anthropology I try to come closer to a truthful image of my subject.

When I grew up in former East Germany and later studied in the western part of Germany and explored the Netherlands, I became aware and intrigued by all kind of prejudices. Hence, in my work I search for ways to go behind and beyond these prejudices.

I have a fascination for social phenomena characterized by the preservation and maintenance of ideals and traditions, and for their persistence in modern times. Much of my work focuses on the intriguing microcosm of closed communities and their relevance in current world. I question the impact of these communities in the identity formation of the individual.

At the end it remains up to the spectator to form his own point of view about these mostly unknown and often preconceived communities that might not be so different than you and me.