In the organizer's words:

Artist talk with Johanna Langenhoff about her exhibition "Ich oder so" at the Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur

The series selected and awarded by the jury is entitled "Ich oder so" and was created in 2023-2024. Johanna Langenhoff (*2000) has been studying at HAW Hamburg since 2021 and developed the series against the backdrop of existential questions of identity and gender affiliation.

"Many feelings that are difficult to put into words are easier for me to depict visually. [...] At the same time, the photographs open up a space for conversation in which I can talk about myself - my process, my feelings of not belonging, the moments of understanding, the uncertainty, the feeling of having to define myself or the lack of finality of this definition 'non-binary'," says Johanna Langenhoff about the intention of the color photographic series. For Johanna Langenhoff, longing, memory and present perception are central moments of a processual self-questioning, characterized by the search for individual localization and individual expression. The motifs she captures alternate appropriately between (self-)portraits and depictions of the body, between landscape and spatial details, between concrete and abstract studies of form. Light and shadow are also frequently used as elements of pictorial design and atmosphere. The series "Ich oder so" is comparable to a kaleidoscope of different emotional states and experiences. It leaves room for associations and thoughts that apply to the pictures, the artist and, fundamentally, human development.

The August Sander Prize has been awarded every two years since 2018, sponsored by Ulla Bartenbach and Prof. Dr. Kurt Bartenbach. The response to the fourth call for entries was also pleasingly high, with more than 120 submissions from Germany and abroad.

The jury consisted of Dr. Anja Bartenbach, donor family, Gabriele Conrath-Scholl, Director, The Photographic Collection/SK Stiftung Kultur, Kirsten Degel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Bernhard Fuchs, artist, Düsseldorf and Prof. Dr. Martin Hochleitner, Salzburg Museum.