Artist Blog
Every week an artist whose single image was published by Der Greif is given a platform in which to blog about contemporary photography.
I want!
Mar 25, 2013 - Florian Jaenicke
The summer of 2008 was already the so called "lame duck" period of George W. Bush, probably the most disliked American president in history. Within his presidency many people turned away from the US which stood for so long for a culture and lifestyle almost the whole world aspired to - including myself. With the election coming up I was curious what the American people really wanted from the next government. I went to New York and my assistant and I were roaming through the different quarters of the city in order to find people who were willing to express what is important to them. They had to write it with black paint on the board and hold it into the camera. I am well aware that there were many photographers who had a similar idea before me and I do see every now and then others who take pictures of people holding cardboards with things written on it after my project was published. However, I do think that it is not as easy as it appears, rather the opposite, I spend a lot of thinking into how to take the pictures. For instance the words had to be painted with brushes in order to get the handwriting as individual as possible, the surrounding played a big role, a great variety of social backgrounds was needed and so on. The series was widely published - surprisingly again before last years election. I am very happy that through this project the protagonists message was seen across the globe.