The Other Side of Venus

In the limbo of post-puberty, I see vulnerability as a highly sensitive revelation. This time of bodily change and self-confidence often leads young individuals down a treacherous path towards self-discovery. The motif of searching for the stranger and the recognition of self in the Other raises the central question of portrait photography: The issue of identity and image.

I capture these shy moments of young men in Eastern Europe and reinforce, as I put the person depicted in a pathetic ambience. The poetic discussion of the “otherness” is calculus. In some countries being different means fear of ostracization, persecution and discrimination - where to go, where to stay? Where to feel reassured, where even to feel safe?

They are not (yet) on the run, but look for shelter and security in a protected place and so they find themselves on the sidelines of vacant, abandoned sites. In the end, these people are no longer looking for their “very own” identity. In the interplay of strong presence and labile emotionality, their individuality in a moment of solitude is stolen.

Through concise gestures and carefully photographic arrangements, I try to translate their unique sensibility into universal symbols. Each portrait becomes a metaphor for authentic emotion. Apparent sobriety of the photographs linked objectively - documented on subjective experiences; the historical situation of a nation can suddenly peek out of a picture. Spaces that appear like stages are taken out of context and suggest detailed historical chasms. Thus, the silent film still-like photographs visualize the secret longings of the “protagonists” of a society alienated from themselves, as well as the fragile relationship that has become reality through which they move as if hypnotised. Between reality and imagination, these young men revolve around their life-panic as “actors” and solidify contemplation in these portraits. However, the subversive energy that builds up behind the surface of solidification is not to be underestimated.

Anna Charlotte Schmid is part of »Guest Room: Damarice Amao & Matthias Pfaller«.