Habitat
Visual stories of nature and urban spaces

Solo Exhibition | Galerie Dietrich
09.08. – 15.09.2024

Habitats and their relationship to people are a recurring topic and visual theme in my work and catch my particular interest. In 2024, I carefully put together a collection of photographs under the title ‘Habitat’ as a retrospective of series from the last eight years. In the truest sense of the word, this collection is about living spaces and the interactions between them and us as their guests and designers.

Urban space, conceived and shaped by humans, serves as a stage with which we not only interact, but on which we present ourselves and perform. In contrast to this is nature, which invites us to spend time in it as visitors. Here, the feeling of originality, the positive loss of control and submission to its rules and laws dominate. This ambivalent relationship between people and their habitats runs through my photographic work, both in terms of content and visually. In particular, the juxtaposition of self-created urban spaces and nature, to which we are repeatedly drawn, is the focus of my observations.

In addition to the obvious contrasts between these habitats, it is elementary for me to point out parallels in my photographs. Sometimes it is artificially created places such as parks or botanical gardens where nature and urbanity meet. The transitions become blurred or allow the habitats to enter into a symbiosis. Urban architecture also often reveals its inspiration from nature in form and function. Recurring structures or lines appear across the series and interact with each other. In my photographs, it is important to me to capture these elements consciously and sometimes almost artificially through a clear image composition, cropping and a style that I call ‘documentary staging’.