#nannimensch

Nanni Mensch

“I like trees. Cats. And walks. I don’t believe in reality. I’ve never known what I want. I studied sociology at some point. And psychology. And German studies. And pedagogy. I worked in a supermarket. I wrote texts. I took photos. I never knew why. I daydreamed and thought. I was never really normal, but sometimes I would have liked to be…”

“I was born and grew up in the east of Germany and started taking photos in 2011 rather accidentally. I had no plan, no goal.  And actually I didn't expect to do it for so long and so intensively...”

“At first I photographed abandoned places and buildings or roamed the woods with my camera... a few years later I started photographing myself, trying to think as little as possible - I just wanted to concentrate on what I was feeling.... wanted to capture what came up spontaneously and let myself fall into the moment to see where it takes me, what it shows me. I wanted to find something beyond the intellect.”

“Over time, my approach and focus have changed a little every now and then. But what has always remained and driven me is a kind of search is the desire to express something that I have never really been able to name (and perhaps never will be able to name). It is an attempt to find and understand myself. And to let go of myself. And the desire to find something that is real and authentic.”

Et ta chevelure qui d'un coup s'est défaite, à ce vent inconnu reprends-la, - attache-nous à ce bouleau tout proche avec ce lien le temps d'un baiser. Et puis: aucune volonté propre ne viendra mouvoir nos membres. Cela qui fait bouger les branches, à quoi pensent les forêts, nous fera ondoyer au gré du vent. Être sans dessein autant qu'il est possible, telle est notre aspiration d'humains; Apprenons toi et moi la leçon de la rose: ce que tu es et ce que je suis

© Rainer Maria Rilke