Ever realised that your living room tells a lot about who you are? Don’t be surprised if a photographer walks into your house and asks to take pictures of your living room. For German photographer André Lützen, it is his business to capture the essence of living spaces in cities as part of his projects to study living conditions and the interplay between public and private spaces.
Here in the city as part of the recent Goethe-Institut’s Art InSight lecture series Inside/OUTside talk on photography, the bangaloREsident@Pepper House in Kochi says he timed his visit to coincide with the monsoon. Presenting work from his two projects in Vietnam and Russia at the talk, he also shared insight on his documentation of the living spaces in the urban areas of Kochi.
One thing that stands out in his work is the weather. André says: “While it was hot in Vietnam, it was cold in Russia. It’s raining now in Kochi and my next project is going to be in Sudan where again the weather comes to play. It’s interesting to see how people adjust their living spaces according to the environment and climate.”
His work at Hanoi in Vietnam titled ‘Public Private Hanoi’ dealt with both inside and outside homes. “It was close to 40 degrees and people live in small houses with almost four generations under one roof. So people will keep their doors open at night and occupy the space in front of their houses.”
His Russian project at the small town of Archangelsk titled ‘Shili Byli’ is the other way around. “It’s a small town on the North Polar Circle with winter for about six months and temperatures at -25 degrees. So people spend a lot of time inside.”
André adds that the living room is a very intimate and personal thing because your living room tells a lot about you. “This is what I am continuing to do in Kochi and observing how climate affects people’s living conditions.”
Born in 1963 in Hamburg, André studied at Hamburg College of Art and at the International Center of Photography in New York. With solo and group exhibitions across the world, the award-winning photographer also teaches at various institutions in Germany and US.
André explains that his work is a narrative form of photography. “I initially wanted to be a filmmaker but it was annoying since there were too many people involved. So I tried to work the other way around and returned to photography where I try to insert the film into my photos. I love to create sequences with a set of pictures sitting next to each other. It’s almost like a film put into single images. This is me making a story out of it and overdoing reality to get closer to the truth.”
With a fourth book coming up, André says he loves writing with visuals. “There are only two directions you can read a book in. There has to be suspense to turn the pages both sides. My photography is in a way like a novel or a film and yet different.” He intends to bring out more presentations in the future and put pictures back into the public space. “It’s high time we got our photographs out of the galleries and onto the streets and in the neighbourhood where people do not dare to go to sophisticated posh places.”
Starting at the age of 21 the 51-year-old, who has 30 years of experience in the field of photography, gives a simple message to other photographers: “Be original. Think before you start taking pictures and create a subject first. Try to start with a small circle and then go big.”
