SAILORS YARN collective

Photographer

We are KIRSTIN SCHMITT & JUAN A. OTAMENDIZ based in Berlin & Havanna, where we have our Studio. Our award winning works have been exhibited at museums, art fairs & festivals (Louvre Museum, Art Basel Miami-Scoop art show, Somerset house London, Shanghai International Film Festival, SIPF-Singapore international photo festival, Addis Foto Festival, Museum of World Cultures Frankfurt, Lagos Photo Festival, Vogue Photo Festival etc.) We had exhibitions in the Americas, Europa, Africa & Asia.Our work got published in press like TimeLightbox, the guardian, Spiegel, Huffington Post etc. JUAN is a autodidactic Afrocuban photographer. He worked for years as cakesupplier, model & selling fashion for 11 years in the blackmarket till he discovered photography. 2015 he participated as only non-academic & Afrocuban at elite workshops of the UNEAC-Union Cuban Writers & Artists. His work deals by inductive ways with lasting consequences & social cultural effects of colonialism. Juans portraits are intimate approaches to life realities beyond the fast lane. KIRSTIN, Filmmaker & photographer/ STUDIES Anthropology, Mesoamerican Studies & filmmaking in Germany & Cuba/worked 2010-2014 as professor for Goethe Institute & journalism university in Angola. Her work focus on the impact of transition, in-between & liminal stages. Characteristic is the use of the environment as soul landscapes & the intimate encounters with the strength & vulnerability of her protagonists.