“Bordelle & Zellen” By Jürgen Chill
With the photography series “bordelle & zellen” (“bordellos & cells”), the photographer Jürgen Chill penetrates milieus that are not accessible to everyone but radiate a concealed fascination. Personal, intimate locations which not many know…
A person’s favourite place is one that can be chosen at will. The person’s freedom is presupposed. Freedom, however, is not granted to all. Those who do not have it must adjust to whatever opportunities exist and strive to create their own place. A cell is perhaps the smallest possible space for habitation that a person can have. Personal and functional items are all accommodated in the tightest space. The spaces are represented as they are found. The proportions of the photographs match those of the rooms. All details in the rooms are shown orthogonally from above; nothing has been altered.
Personal details from the life of prisoners, but everything without the individuals to which they belong. A dehumanized world which narrates the world of humans. They are suffocating photographs, despite the bird’s eye perspective. A hovering above things and at the same time the feeling of being entrapped.”
Jürgen Chill
The Essen-born photographer Jürgen Chill earned a degree in “Fine Arts” from the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten (University of the Arts) in Arnhem (The Netherlands) in 2002. Since then, he has been represented in various national and international exhibitions. His works were nominated for various art prizes, and in 2007, he won the European Architectural Photography Prize with the photography series “zellen”.
