portraits

For my ongoing photo series 'portraits', I want to slip into the skin of different people by wearing their clothes. I am kicking off the project in Cairo (Egypt) in collaboration with That Really Cool Studio this summer. They provide me with a space to photograph and help me motivate different people in Cairo to let me wear their clothes for a portrait.

Cairo is just the beginning however and I would like to continue the series in different places around the world. There is no limit and no selection criteria, except that the clothes I wear must actually be worn by the other person. The resulting portraits are then published on my website and all participants receive the photo with their clothes digitally. I also plan to print each photo once in its original size.

Unlike my photo series Self-portrait from 2018 in Munich and 2021 in Darmstadt, in which I also swapped clothes with other people, this time, however, it will not be resolved who is hiding behind the clothes I am wearing by having them wear my clothes in a second picture. This time there will only be the image of me in the clothes of the others.

The individuality of the different people whose clothes I am wearing is thus not made visible by seeing who is hiding behind the clothes or even in the clothes themselves, but in what one cannot see and what one cannot imagine.

The work is thus a very personal attempt to better understand society and an experiment whose actual result is an open, invisible one. Everything we see is only a mirror of our self, because what we are, we only know for ourselves.

So I would like to attempt to understand humanity by wearing its clothes.

My dream is to be able to depict a cross-section of all humanity at the end of my life. Apart from the minimum age of 18, there are no restrictions on who can participate in the project.

As a freelance artist, I depend on the support of society. Since I have not sold my work so far, I have hardly any income apart from grants, scholarships and prize money. Fortunately, I am currently supported by about 60 patrons with 1 € per month, but this only finances a small part of my running costs for my websites and online installations.

With your support, you not only help me to realise my new photo series, but also support me as a freelance artist to depict our society and to question it together.

For 2500 € I can buy two A10 flashes, plus accessories from Profoto. With the flashes I want to make sure that the photos are exposed the same all over the world.

If more than 2500 € are collected, I can pay a voluntary rent to That Really Cool Studio in Cairo.

If more than 2500 € are collected, I will use the money to realise the series in other locations. I will use the money for travel expenses, studio rent and printing the pictures for exhibitions.

Since it is my dream to realise the series all over the world - there is no upper limit to my project.