Milwaukee Avenue #3, 2005, © Anne LassThe photography of Anne Lass is often about the relationship to landscape and the question of anonymity. In this week's conversation, she presents a selection of photographs from several different series.
Anne Lass: I grew up in northern Germany being part of the Danish minority. Our family has always enjoyed to travel and discovering all these unknown places as a child has had a great impact on me. After high school I moved to London, then to Copenhagen where I attended different art schools. Hereafter I began my Diploma Studies in Essen, Germany, where I studied Documentary Photography with Jörg Sasse. I was lucky to be in a group with quite a few very talented photographers - we still have good exchange and collaborate in different projects. Right now I am based in Berlin, am the proud mother of a one year old boy and enjoy to live in this diverse city.
NP: How did you discover photography?
AL: As a teenager I attended a darkroom course and found out what a mirror reflex camera is all about. The work with photography immediately became highly fascinating to me and has been ever since.
NP: Where do you find inspiration?
AL: I like to walk for hours and observe my surroundings. Going places and discovering new areas is always inspiring to me. From recreational areas to places which people avoid - it does not really matter, as long as I find this certain atmosphere I am looking for. Despite of this, a good conversation, an interesting article or an old image found on a flea market can be very inspiring too....
NP: How do your projects come about?
AL: For my project Wandeln, which is about contemporary life and living space, I can photograph anytime and everywhere. The project contains so far over 60 images from Australia, Europe and the States. The images are connected in different groups and relations depending on the context Other projects deal with a specific geographic area, for example the Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago. At the moment I feel drawn to situations which seem staged, yet it is not a dogma that my photographs have to be "real". If something needs to be changed to make the image better, I will do so. The final image is important to me and the world delivers the material.
NP: What’s next?
AL: I am currently working on a project about areas changing because of erosion, places which might disappear within the next days, months or years. Furthermore I will do a landscape project in Belgium this spring and have plans to photograph a suburb of Lisbon - and I have quite a few new images for my project Wandeln which I am looking forward to connect with the other ones. And today my solo exhibition, In Our Time, opens at the Goethe Institute in Washington D.C.
Thank you for participating Anne!
To see more of her work, please head to www.annelass.de.
In Our Time (In unserer Zeit)
Photographs by Anne Lass
Thursday, 25 March 2010 - Friday, 28 May 2010
Goethe-Institut Washington, FotoGalerie
Opening reception
Thursday, March 25, 6 – 8 pm
with photographer Anne Lass and Al Miner, Independent Curator and Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Curatorial Assistant
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