I am presenting the results of a recent photo project in an exhibition named “simply dying”. It consists of 12 pictures showing synonyms for dying or death. Since these synonyms are rather culture specific, they can’t be transpalted properly. They are phrases like “kicking the bucket”, “meeting your maker “and similar (maybe I will add an english version in the future).
In 2016, I had an idea for a concept to this series of pictures. The theme itself goes through my head for much longer. I had a few pictures in my mind but didn’t find a connecting line between them until then. Clinging to this idea, I started sketching pictures and collecting further ideas. The sketches were fine-tuned until I was satisfied with the concept.
Death is a widely neglected and avoided topic. The pictures show (German) words and phrases, used to avoid the simple word Death. Some of the pictures are pretty straight forward addressing the topic, others do it more subtle, but all of them with a smile. They are mostly following a memento mori motif. All pictures are in black and white, have a square aspect ratio andare created out of camera, without any post-processing on the computer.
The picture above was taken in a break between two of the planned pictures.
All 13 pictures were taken between November 13th to 14th 2022 at Reinhard Wagner’s Studio at Rocksdorf. With the help of a great team I was able to take the pictures at a record breaking speed. Thanks to my models Moni and Rowdy, Sebastian and Reinhard for their support and especially Reinhard for the infrastructure. It’s great fun to work in a team like this!
The concept includes presentations as a calendar and in exhibitions.