muschimaedchen

This little experimental shoot was inspired by Meret Oppenheim and her surrealist object art.  Besides the release of countless figures, statues and art installations from a different kind, she used to be the "muse of the surrealists" for Man Rays photography cycle "Érotique voilée" in 1933 which made her famous. It is a great thing to be part of someone else creative process but also being part of your own work. To realise your own vision i t's the easiest and really comfortable , that's why I need to start shooting myself (without self-timer) and find models which I will do for my next shoot. Working with strangers is one of the most difficult things to me because you never know how far you can go or how much you can ask for. This project is about leaving my comfort zone and collaborate as much as possible and push myself in all areas.  I didn't want this shoot to look too complex, the beauty should lay in the simplicity of black& white...

Meret Oppenheim& Magritte  Going into the second part of my research I was looking into Blasphemy and especially post-war art. This time was an incubator for the appearance and also origin of all possible fetishes, trends and sexualities. They became extremer or much more defined. There was no regime or neighbour you had to be afraid of. Artists were free to do anything since the state was not able to express any sense of authority or censorship, still traumatised by the time of Hitler's extermination of everything different and special.  Two really inspiring women Meret Oppenheim and Carolee Schneemann (both favourite artists of my customer I found through target market research)  who both experienced the war and often referenced their work by using their experiences, explored an imaginary world, Oppenheim through surrealism and Schneemann through exploring all facets of sexuality in a provoking and educating way. Even though some images might seem to rep...

Inspired by Marc Cohen's photography and guided by his 13 rules of photography I took a set of experimental photography over the holidays.  His way of surprising the objects of his works is probably the most inspiring thing about him. He had the courage and braveness to shoot strangers without permission. Obviously, it became really difficult to copy this since we live in a digital era and pictures can virally be spread within seconds. People are well-aware of their rights and privacy. Still, I need to leave my comfort zone and at least start shooting strangers.  In order to give up control of the outcome and the visual aspect that might also distract from the subject, I used a disposable camera. Usually, I shoot on film but even on film, you can influence your image. It almost feels like shooting on film makes me lazy. The images automatically look "cool", I care less about what I'm photographing instead of the colour of the film. Something I initially wanted t...

Now that I finished most of my ADHD research I realised that for me living with this disorder is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is exclusion. In the German history exclusion obviously played a big part, you might even say it's our biggest atrocity. Maybe it's human nature, though we should do everything to stop it.  When my siblings went to primary school they invented this new concept of "I-classes" (integration classes). So everyone with a disorder or disability (like dyslexia or hearing disorders) were put together in one class. To me, this is the most absurd thing you could possibly do. We are growing up in a community of values and solidarity, so why can we not be all together and learn from each other? Studies have shown that we are all capable of more than expected from us so excluding us from the "normal rest" just causes misperceptions on both sides, lowers self-esteem and is pretty much the opposite of Integration.  When I thoug...

RESEARCH ON WOMEN& ADHD  The first part of my research looks into women with ADHD, the "disorder" itself and also all the problems it causes. When they first made diagnoses and collected data in the US only white boys were tested, those results are still used until this day. Apparently only one out of ten diagnoses are made on women. A study from East Germany shows that at least one out of three affected people are female.  Even though this disorder affects women completely different, it's been treated the same way. The consequences are depression and low self-esteem. Often diagnoses come really late or never.  One afflicted describes it as "writing to-do-lists all day long and in the end writing to-do-lists on to-do-lists".  In Germany being diagnosed with ADHD means that you're disadvantaged, which automatically makes you "retarded". My mother didn't want to leave this stamp on me to make lif...

After I've completed the target market research for my "generation zz" and went into my research I've realised that my customer is not the core of the problem. The lack of communication is caused by their parents.  Generation zz is really interested, but their parents don't tell them anything about their own past, and if only fragments. In the first two weeks I was  supposed to look into our (German) history, the second world war and it's consequences. But I have to change my customer in order to  meet my customer but also my aim: to bound both generations, at the same time.  The customer is already quite educated about the past since i n History and German Studies it makes up more than half of the school syllabus.  Therefore there is no need to research more in depth within the war and Third Reich, this generation wants to move on and process. They are interested in what happened after the war, post-war art and also science, especi...

The overarching aim for me during this FMP was to is to change the way of processing our history, so that it is more comprehensible for the following generations. Therefore I've chosen the generation after me, my younger siblings and their friends. Those that grew up with smartphones, not using the amazing sources and research but much more using the internet to communicate more or less verbally through images. Instagram is their Facebook, or for me SchülerVZ which the following generation doesn't even know. Scientists say it's not as bad as apocalypticists assume, though we know that it increases stress and lowers our concentration. My customers generation feels less need for freedom and also has less sex, something I can definitely confirm when I look at my younger siblings.  Digitalisation splits generations and also stops generations from  communicating. We stopped asking our parents as soon as we could find out ourselves online. My laptop was vital for me, ...