Winners of the Alfred Fried Photography Award 2018
Ich bin Waldviertel
Hannah & Alena are two sisters living in a small village with 170 inhabitants in the Waldviertel, the rural area between Vienna and the Czech Republic. Jury statement: In an idealized world, peace is the visualization of the paradise lost long ago. And, as life goes…: Suddenly you hit on the series by Dutch photographer Carla Kogelman. Her work comes across as a bit old-fashioned. It plays with the idea of the ‘good old times’, the atmosphere of a happy childhood. Carefree, honest, unpretentious, incorruptible. What you see in her black-and-white photographs is an era of inquisitiveness, cheerfulness and warmth. It makes you all melancholy and calm. These are moments of sheer magic that Kogelman has captured. Moments of a pristine nature, intact. Children splash around in the lake, romp through the garden, wade through the mud. Free, uninhibited, inspired, buoyed up by life, air, twilight. They play freely, explore nature, look for earthworms, snails and salamanders. Unbound, they fly through the air, play in the house, laughing. In harmony with nature, often naked. Fairies and fauns appear, dancing in front of Kogelman’s lens. This is what peace looks like. Kogelman hits on the nerve of our times: a longing for the past and for slowness in a world of superficial speed. In her pictures she evokes a diffuse lightness of being. The series hits you without warning – and touches you. Magical and outmoded. Peace is love, tolerance, acceptance and freedom. Emotionally free, rationally unbound. Peace emerges from within, from contentment, serenity, confidence and appreciation.
Hannah & Alena are two sisters living in a small village with 170 inhabitants in the Waldviertel, the rural area between Vienna and the Czech Republic. Jury statement: In an idealized world, peace is the visualization of the paradise lost long ago. And, as life goes…: Suddenly you hit on the series by Dutch photographer Carla Kogelman. Her work comes across as a bit old-fashioned. It plays with the idea of the ‘good old times’, the atmosphere of a happy childhood. Carefree, honest, unpretentious, incorruptible. What you see in her black-and-white photographs is an era of inquisitiveness, cheerfulness and warmth. It makes you all melancholy and calm. These are moments of sheer magic that Kogelman has captured. Moments of a pristine nature, intact. Children splash around in the lake, romp through the garden, wade through the mud. Free, uninhibited, inspired, buoyed up by life, air, twilight. They play freely, explore nature, look for earthworms, snails and salamanders. Unbound, they fly through the air, play in the house, laughing. In harmony with nature, often naked. Fairies and fauns appear, dancing in front of Kogelman’s lens. This is what peace looks like. Kogelman hits on the nerve of our times: a longing for the past and for slowness in a world of superficial speed. In her pictures she evokes a diffuse lightness of being. The series hits you without warning – and touches you. Magical and outmoded. Peace is love, tolerance, acceptance and freedom. Emotionally free, rationally unbound. Peace emerges from within, from contentment, serenity, confidence and appreciation.
