O R I G I O
Milena Schilling, Germany
Milena Schilling is a photographer born in 1996 who lives and works in Constance, Germany. Her work, which includes solo and group exhibitions recognized with prestigious awards, often explores people and the surrounding nature where she grew up on a farm. After earning degrees in photography from Constance and Dortmund, Milena now makes a living as a photographer, teaches at Constance University of Applied Sciences, and is actively involved in photography networks and organizations.
We all spend the first nine months of our lives in water. There, we are free from social constructs and all equal. The project aims to remind us that we all have the same origin ant that we are all worthy of equal treatment. It is a tribute to life, its diversity, and beauty. It is a humble look at the element of water, to which we humans owe our existence on Earth, and a reminder that we all originated from the same water and are connected to each other through it.
How it’s made:
For three years, i photographed 45 people naked in Lake Constance, wich belongs to Germany, Switzerland and Austria. People of all body types and backgrounds, aged 18 to 73, dived in front of my camera. I made the sailing license, learned to freedive and at the same time studied old paintings and worked out a very detailed concept in general and for each shoot. I practiced the choreography on land with the models, and organized the sailboat. It was freezing cold. Because only when the water temperature was below 12 degrees did we have reasonably clear visibility in Lake Constance. But the weather conditions of the previous days, the wind strength, the algae bloom—nothing was predictable, reliable, or even repeatable. We were only in the water for a few minutes, while the entire shoot took up to 9 hours. After the final details were discussed on board, everyone swam to their positions, took a deep breath, and then we were ready to start the choreography. Because of technical issues i could only take one single shot per dive. The turbidity of the lake and the soft light of the cloudy sky lend the photographs a timeless character and evoke memories of our origins: every human life grows enclosed in amniotic fluid. Almost weightless, free of possessions, carried by an element that knows no boundaries, language barriers, or hierarchies.