"The Nomansland-project started unintentionally in the summer of 2016 when a close friend told me about her feelings of depression. Facing her discomfort and anxiety, we found nude photography to be a medium that removes all layers of artificial defense, allowing to fully self-reflect upon oneself. Nomansland grew entirely on motives of self-exploration and positions itself as the entire opposite of glossy pseudo-erotic nude imagery, by portraying the hidden 'anti-aesthetic' rawness of personality and character.
Whilst working on Nomansland, I became increasingly aware of the negative connotation of nudity and sexuality as either pornographic or forcefully secretive: Something, that everybody equally possesses, yet rarely dares/is allowed to openly share. In the German language 'genitals' translates to 'shame': This manmade 'self-shame', by definition, actively contributes to an omnipresent discomfort, the fear of harsh judgement/censorship through others and especially oneself, based on one's bodily appearance in comparison to societal standards. In many countries, being nude in public even results in the risk of becoming the potential victim of physical or mental punishment.
Throughout the collaboration with various people from all-over the world and observation of cultural concepts in the last 6 years, Nomansland grew to not only question the societal understanding of nudity, but also other equally restricting concepts such as tradition, culture, and religion. Nomansland in short, searches for a hypothetical place of perfect equalization against stereotypical judgement of both naturegiven and self-expressive qualities whilst removing artificially created fears, induced by societal boxthinking. The project has additionally been inspired by the death of my grandfather in early 2017 which highly influenced my practice and shaped Nomansland even more into an emotional journey, which it was for me from the very start.
'Through more than 15 years of taking photographs, I have come to realize the value of portraying people and places the way they are, not how they like to disguise themselves.' - Nomansland is the cause and result of this realization, and hence far outgrew the notion of a photographic project into an attitude towards life itself."
Whilst working on Nomansland, I became increasingly aware of the negative connotation of nudity and sexuality as either pornographic or forcefully secretive: Something, that everybody equally possesses, yet rarely dares/is allowed to openly share. In the German language 'genitals' translates to 'shame': This manmade 'self-shame', by definition, actively contributes to an omnipresent discomfort, the fear of harsh judgement/censorship through others and especially oneself, based on one's bodily appearance in comparison to societal standards. In many countries, being nude in public even results in the risk of becoming the potential victim of physical or mental punishment.
Throughout the collaboration with various people from all-over the world and observation of cultural concepts in the last 6 years, Nomansland grew to not only question the societal understanding of nudity, but also other equally restricting concepts such as tradition, culture, and religion. Nomansland in short, searches for a hypothetical place of perfect equalization against stereotypical judgement of both naturegiven and self-expressive qualities whilst removing artificially created fears, induced by societal boxthinking. The project has additionally been inspired by the death of my grandfather in early 2017 which highly influenced my practice and shaped Nomansland even more into an emotional journey, which it was for me from the very start.
'Through more than 15 years of taking photographs, I have come to realize the value of portraying people and places the way they are, not how they like to disguise themselves.' - Nomansland is the cause and result of this realization, and hence far outgrew the notion of a photographic project into an attitude towards life itself."
Special thanks go out to the 89books (Palermo, Italy) - team, specifically Mauro Dagati for both, extensively supporting the production/ release of my book throughout the course of 2022. Find out more about 89books here.
