JOSEF
1935–2023
I had known Josef since my childhood. Like many people in the village, I knew who he was without really knowing him. In 2017, the camera gave me a reason to knock on his door – I began to photograph him, and we gradually became friends.
He lived in the middle of the village, in an old farmhouse without running water or a working heating system. Few relatives, few friends, few words. I was drawn to the dark rooms and old beams, and to the repeated gestures of his work with animals and hay. In the photographs, these details could take on a romantic warmth that sat uneasily with the cold and loneliness of his daily life.
When Josef moved into a care home in 2018, I continued to photograph him there. His days now followed the routines of care, in brighter rooms with smooth surfaces, care beds and linoleum floors.
EXHIBITIONS
2022 / First Pages, Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum / Cologne, DE
2018 / Lumix Festival / Hannover, DE
2018 / Visa pour l’Image / Perpignan, FR
AWARD
2018 / Audience Award, Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung (HAZ)