JURY STATEMENT
Growing old as a queer person and thriving is an accomplishment till this day. This in itself makes the subjects heroes and role models for a lot of lgbtqia+ people. The joy and playfulness of the series is a fresh and well needed tone of representation.
ART OF AGING QUEER
Arianne Clément allows us to glimpse into her extensive, moving encounters with her protagonists, in which they went on a collaborative journey together with great time and care. They wanted to find out how the protagonists‘ own beauty can be made visible, from a feeling of comfort and safety and not in cold exposure. How they want, not should, not can, but really want to create a visual representation for themselves. The Art of Aging Queer shows six older queer protagonists in reduced black and white photographs, five in front of a plane black background, four in a subtly furnished setting, with a soft interplay of light or lying provocatively joyful on the sofa. The scenes are lit from the center on, as the mostly naked or lightly clothed skin of the subjects shines towards us.
BIOGRAPHY
After obtaining a master’s degree with honours in documentary photography from University of the Arts London, Arianne Clément travelled far and wide to find inspiration, often getting involved in humanitarian projects with the marginalized, her preferred subjects. She now devotes her work principally to portraying the elderly. Her celebrated portraits of seniors have been exhibited nationally and internationally, and won her several prizes, grants and honours.What these distinctions reflect first and foremost are the sensitivity and boldness of her work and the unique connection she manages to create with her models. Her pictures and stories were published in major newspapers and prestigious journals all around the world and her work was met with enthusiastic response online.
JURY STATEMENT
Als queere Person alt zu werden, ist auch heute noch eine Errungenschaft. Das allein macht die Protagonist*innen zu Held*innen und Vorbildern für viele lgbtqia+ Menschen. Die Freude und Verspieltheit der Serie ist eine frische und dringend benötigte Tonalität der visuellen Repräsentation queerer älterer Menschen.
THE ART OF AGING QUEER
Arianne Clément lässt in ausgedehnte, berührende Begegnungen mit ihren Protagonist*innen blicken, in denen sie mit Zeit und Sorgfalt gemeinsam und kollaborativ auf die Suche gegangen sind. Es ging darum herauszufinden, wie für die Protagonist*innen die eigene Schönheit sichtbar gemacht werden kann, aus einem wohligen Gefühl heraus, nicht in kalter Ablichtung. Wie wollen, nicht sollen, nicht können, sondern wirklich wollen sie Repräsentation kreieren. The Art of Aging Queer zeigt sechs ältere queere Protagonist*innen in reduzierten schwarz weiß Fotografien, fünf vor flächigem schwarzen Hintergrund, vier in leicht ausgestaltetem Setting, mit sanftem Lichtspiel oder verspielt auf dem Sofa. Das Licht fällt zentral, die meist nackte oder leicht bekleidete Haut der Menschen strahlt uns entgegen.
BIOGRAFIE
Nach ihrem Master-Abschluss mit Auszeichnung in Dokumentarfotografie an der University of the Arts London reiste Arianne Clément und widmete sich humanitären Projekten. Heute fokussiert sie sich in ihrer Arbeit vor allem auf die Darstellung älterer Menschen. Ihre berühmten Senior*innenporträts wurden national und international ausgestellt und mit zahlreichen Preisen, Stipendien und Ehrungen ausgezeichnet, die vor allem die Sensibilität und Kühnheit ihrer Arbeit und die einzigartige Verbindung, die sie zu ihren Modellen herzustellen versteht, widerspiegeln. Ihre Bilder und Geschichten wurden in großen Zeitungen und renommierten Zeitschriften auf der ganzen Welt veröffentlicht und ihre Arbeit stieß online auf begeisterte Resonanz.
Transitions as lived stories of heroism. Mathis Benestebe shows how you can become a hero for and within yourself, connecting the concentrated autobiographical opening of the series with other parallel trajectories, human experiences of transition, all of which ultimately find different forms of embodiment.
Growing old as a queer person and thriving is an accomplishment till this day. This in itself makes the subjects heroes and role models for a lot of lgbtqia+ people. The joy and playfulness of the series is a fresh and well needed tone of representation.
Meret Eberl does not, in the best possible way, close-cut capture her protagonists and their experiences. In her compositions, there is room for questions and space for the human experience.
The series „Life without a Parachute“ shows great and grand moments in queer history and significant, far-reaching success stories, celebrated stars and individuals who fought for political achievements for the queer community far beyond the US-American context.
Lou Fajardo shows everyday heroes in the Philippines who gently and tenderly create spaces of care and self-care. The series emphasizes the desire for legal protection and justice for the LGBTQIA+ communities in the Philippines.
The series House of Realness raises the question of agency and representation through stereotypical imagery and expectations of specifically gay queerness in the townships of Johannesburg, but also creates space for new, heroic imaginations.
Kuln’zu’s portrait series shows young queer people from the cultural scene of Nairobi (Kenya), visionary heroes who create spaces for visibility and representation in a powerful cultural and artistic practice.
Chantal Regnault’s series is iconic. She gives us heroes that continue to echo and reverberate around the world. Ballroom is held up as a place of self-realization, of protection, of family of choice, but also of courage.
Bela Varadi’s heroes celebrate their queerness and “Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT)” identity as an enigmatic and celebratory fusion. The protagonists not only shine in the photographs themselves, expressing themselves, but are also active in activism, educational work and community work.
Pia Vogel shows that the private, the personal, the local is deeply meaningful. Queer solidarity, learning from each other and supporting each other on a direct personal level of love, care and community is powerful and heroic.
In a particularly fluid and poetic way, Cansu Yıldıran sheds light on queer people who have been subjected to violence. Through the use of documentary imaginations, Cansu Yıldıran creates a kind of mythical space for the empathetic, loving commemoration of heroes whose names have not (yet) been commemorated.
