RAUHNACHT

Second Prize Winner: 'This work skillfully unites the struggles of a frost biting winter and the inner turmoil of a depressed mind. Bold jet abstract pictures paint a feeling of the overwhelming harshness of living, the struggle and the fight while simultaneously give the mind space to breathe in vast landscapes of snow. To unite the two in mixed black and white and color pictures and to transport this choking feeling of being thrown into life deserves to be awarded'. Gomma«When I was 21 I almost developed a depression, it was after the death of my lover. I lay in bed for half a year, could hardly get up, had nightmares every night. I was able to overcome it, but now, decades later, these episodes return to me from time to time.Winter is hard. I live in a small town in the North, the cold creeps through the cracks into the old house, which I rarely leave. Who crawls out of his hole and sneaks around in front of my door at night? Wild animals? Hairy demons? Evil spirits? I make up stories and find joy in them, my dreams are wild and colourful. But sometimes I wake up and can hardly breathe or swallow, I have a big lump in my throat. RAUHNACHT is a series of 58 pictures about my winter depression and my life in a hostile and maybe dangerous environment. All photos are snapshots, not staged, taken in the winters from 2017 to 2022.» Uta Genilke