Back in March, just days before Corona, I was planning a two-month trip across Peru and the south of the United States, meant to end with me attending a Punk Rock Festival in Florida in late October 2020. I’ve been saving up, checking flights, planning to take time off. I had been inviting friends and family to come and visit me in Hamburg and dreaming about working remotely during the cold northern winter of 2021.Then, all of a sudden, we couldn’t go anywhere anymore.
And I realised that for years, I had been planning my life around travelling. Meeting loved ones. Enjoying time off. Following my instinct to always learn and explore. Chasing the perfect shot. Then I couldn’t do any of those things anymore. I always knew that travelling is a privilege. And I always assumed it was one I would always have. Looking back to memories of my travels gave me much comfort during times of isolation and helped me reflect on how lucky I’d been.
When I started planning this exhibition, in September, borders were opening and people were travelling once again. Then the second wave hit us. With this images, I want to help spread my renewed, and now deeper, sense of gratitude and respect. Gratitude for owning a passport that allows me to cross borders easily, and having the opportunity to earn enough money to so do. Respect for the wonders of our Earth and for its guardians, who for thousands of years sheltered these places, and now allow and guide others across their ancestral homes. And I hope that looking at these images could bring others the same comfort that it brings me.
The exhibition inaugurated on the 17 of October at Damettto Nudeln and my work can still be seen and bought there, along with paintings from the very talented Sabela García Cuesta and Olga Dedova. You can also order my prints online here.
