Artist
Daniel Chatard
Daniel Chatard (*1996) is a Franco-German documentary photographer working on long-term projects related to the topics of environment, climate change and power structures. He is interested in how these issues manifest themselves in the physical space. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in photojournalism and documentary photography at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hanover in 2021. Since 2018 he has been freelancing for ZEIT and National Geographic among others. 2018 he did an exchange semester in Journalism and Photojournalism at the Tomsk State University in Russia. Since 2021 Daniel is doing his master’s degree in Photography and Society at the Royal Academy of Arts The Hague. Coming from a background of photojournalism, he established for his practice the term of the “involved documentary”, indicating that he acknowledges the relationships between himself and the subjects he tries to understand through a visual approach, instead of assuming the position of an outside observer. This means that the process of exposing himself to the issues he researches on is a crucial part of his practice.
No Man’s Land
No man’s land is the area between the positions of the parties of the conflict, it is uncontrolled, it is potential confrontation, the area seemingly devoid of property, space for appropriation, therefore full of potential tensions, seemingly amorphous transition area. Few are going there and even less comes back. Those who have succeeded are bringing stories about what they experienced by crossing various boundaries. The no man’s land in the era of post-internet, in the era of hybrid, invisible wars, can lurk everywhere. Two young artists, students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź, found it in Kazakhstan and Israel. Photographers have traveled hundreds of miles around these two countries. As a result, cycles of black and white views ready for appropriation were created. Their works are also an objective record and a personal interpretation of fragments of reality. They draw the viewer into the space of emptiness and loneliness, introduce us to an unknown, menacing and strange world, waiting for the discoverers of his potential meanings.
Daniel Chatard deals with the power dynamics and effects of lignite extraction in the Rhineland, examining the decades-long influence that energy company RWE has had on villages threatened by these industries.
Natalia Kepesz moved to Germany from Poland twenty years ago. She photographed Polish military camps for children, questioning why people in her country of birth love to play war and romanticise it so much in the process.
Josh Kern uses photography to tell stories that are full of drama, looking for hidden hooks to give his work a starting point. His selected project is about the positive relationship he shares with his girlfriend Asli – a topic he chose when wondering if so much positivity is healthy.
Angelina Vernetti sees her photo project EVERY BODY as a utopian narrative of realisable ideals of beauty, whilst SMILE EFFEKT examines the socio-cultural status of the birth control pill in Germany.
Tamara Eckhardt’s projects deal mainly with marginalised social groups – with a particular focus on documenting adolescence. She strives to shed light on her protagonists, whom she follows for months in the making of a project.