Juergen Teller ‘Irene im Wald’ Interview

Juergen Teller’s latest exhibition hosted at The Journal Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, looks to his childhood in Germany for reference. ‘Irene im Wald’ portrays Teller’s own mother, Irene, wandering through the woods near his home in Nuremberg.

Read Dazed Digital’s interview with the photographer below.

Dazed Digital: Can you describe the ‘Irene im Wald’ series?
Juergen Teller: In a way it’s a love letter to my mother and to the forest I grew up very close near by. There are pictures of the forest, of my mother in the forest, accompanied with heavy heartfelt text written by myself running through the show.

DD: Family has played a heady role in your work over the years – why do you think this is? And, how you disengage with your context and treat them as models?
Juergen Teller: Family is there – the old one, the new one – whether you want it or not. For better and for worse. I go, wherever there is my interest, where my heart and feeling take me. Family is a major part of my life. I never really think of anyone as models, even the models.

DD: Your work toys with conveying ideas and context without explicitly showing it, how did using the woods from near your hometown impact on the images you’ve created?
Juergen Teller: I started a series called ‘The Keys to the House’ which involves the landscape pictures around the place in Suffolk where we rent a house. I always loved the woods near my house near where I grew up, but never had the courage. The Suffolk work gave me confidence and I started walking the forest with my Mum and that then catapulted the written text which accompanies the works.

DD: What do you want people to take away from the Irene im Wald series?
Juergen Teller: An experience which is warmly felt. But before this question, I’ve never asked myself such a question.

DD: It was common for you to be referred to as a fashion photographer – but this is a limiting description – what do you think of this and how would you describe yourself now?
Juergen Teller: I am someone who takes pleasure in exploring the full scale of the medium photography. I am a photographer.

DD: Over the years nudity has also had a place in your photographs – what impact do you think nudity and the figurative form has had on your photography?
Juergen Teller: I am interested in many things, the physicality of the human body is just one part of it as same as landscapes, portraits, or anything I am drawn towards it now.

Juergen Teller: Irene im Wald, The Journal Gallery 168 North 1st Street, Brooklyn NY 11211

Image courtesy of the Artist and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York