Verena Jaekel » Artist Statement

Artist Statement

Since 2003, I have consistently worked on

artistic portraiture, always tying this genre in

with current social discourse – for example,

on migration issues or the changing definition

of family in our times.

For dealing with these topics, I work with a large format camera and 4”x5” negative film and deliberately choose a form of representation that appears anachronistic: the conventional, analogue photographed family portrait.

By taking up the family portrait, I use it as a bridge between the familiar and the unknown, the sitter and the observer, to stimulate both curiosity and understanding.

I am fascinated both by the focussed reflection on the photographic moment and the moment of intense family gathering that develops a dynamic of its own at every portrait session and never ceases to inspire me to rise to the challenge of creating a new document of a particular

moment in time.

Since this analogue process is becoming less and less common in our digital age, my experience is that it is welcomed with enthusiasm by the portrayed families.

My intention is to create a body of work of international family portraits that reveals the diversity of contemporary family constellations and thus also the diversity of our society

and emphasizes its relevance for

dialogue and discourse.

Biography

Verena Jaekel (born in 1980) is a German portrait photographer renowned for her large-format analogue photographed family portraits.

Her work is committed to bringing

to light social issues.

In 2005/06, she won the prestigious Wüstenrot Foundation prize for documentary photography to create her work Neue Familienportraits –

New Family Portraits, dealing with the topic of same-sex parents with their children.

This work was presented for the first time at

C/O Berlin in 2007. Worldwide exhibitions, artist talks, photo festivals and queer festivals e.g. in Germany, Poland, Chile, India, Pakistan and Italy presenting this work followed and there is still a huge interest in and many requests for this series.

In 2009, she carried out a portrait commission

for the Scottish National Portrait Gallery as part

of the Gallery’s Migration Stories project, photographing members of the Pakistani community in Scotland. As in her previous projects, Jaekel chose the family portrait to explore both personal and social identities.

The project was a great success and stayed on the Gallery’s walls for nine months.

Later, in 2013, the project was presented in Pakistan in cooperation with the British Council Arts Programme.

Jaekel’s work has already been exhibited widely, notably at Villa Merkel (2017); Kunstpalais Erlangen (2016); Berlinische Galerie (2016); Museum Folkwang, (2014); The Scottish National Portrait Gallery (2011-2012); Goethe Institut New Delhi (2011 and 2008); C/O Berlin (2007) and Martin Gropius Bau (2005). Her portraits are part of numerous collections; for example, the Photography Collection of the Berlinische Galerie and the Photography Collection of the Museum Folkwang. She has been described as “building up a body of work that in the future will be

highly significant”.

Verena Jaekel completed her studies in 2004 at the Lette-Verein Photography School in Berlin. She is based in Berlin and works worldwide.

Visiting Artist Lecture Venues

2016

Artist lecture

Tagung Dicker als Wasser?

Kunstpalais Erlangen

Artist lecture

International Summer Workshop Family Matters

Stiftung wannseeFORUM

Artist lecture

Gesamtschule Kürten