Gold medal for Katharina Jaeger at the German Photo Book Award
Katharina Jaeger wins with her publication „Die Schwerkraft des Kinderwunsches" the gold medal in category 12 "Illustrated book photographic thesis".
In the German Photo Book Award 24|25 competition, Katharina Jaeger, graduate of the Kunsthochschule Kassel, was awarded a gold medal on Saturday (23.11.24) in the Städtische Galerie im Leeren Beutel in Regensburg for her final thesis "Die Schwerkraft des Kinderwunsches" (Self-Publishing).
Laudation by juror Dr. Anja Schürmann
„Die Schwerkraft des Kinderwunsches"
What color does a wish have? What material, what visual equivalent? Perhaps it is wrapped in milky plastic foil, perhaps it has a shimmering gold cover or is modestly blind embossed with moving bubbles. This is exactly how one encounters Katharina Jaeger's photographic thesis, presented at the Kunsthochschule Kassel. When you open the book, the Swiss brochure separates the wish, which is colorful and blurred on the inside, from the reality in the book block. The book describes Jaeger's fertility treatment. Beginning chronologically with a wish and a doctor who does not recognize this wish. Time passes in this book, narrative time and narrated time are equal. Eleven photos of hormone-injected bellies correspond to eleven days of hormone injections. Strong wide angles not only move the perspective of treatment rooms away, but also into the future, towards the goal of motherhood. The desire to have children is also shown as a struggle, cloths impaled as if with a sword - a counter image to iconic insemination depictions where eggs are fertilized with cannulas. Jaeger records her experiences as memory logs, supplemented by communication with a psychologist and the clinic staff. The fourth, fifth and sixth attempts follow. Along with the texts, I also read the pictures differently. Meandering areas of color now become blue spots. And also echo chambers for unanswerable questions that nevertheless arise. The medical devices become promises of salvation, the syringe becomes a sword, tablets, needles and vials become churches. The cycle of cycles, the cycle of unsuccessful attempts, is recorded in the book in a double-page spread that combines a medical image with a photographic one. On the left we see a view outwards, trees without leaves, on the right a view inwards, a tangle of cells. In all accuracy and medical precision, the book works on things that do not exist. The things that do exist thus become evocations. The questions that nevertheless arise are not only private, but also political: why is sperm donation permitted in Germany, but not egg donation? Why does health insurance only cover fertility treatment for married couples? And what does reproductive justice mean when it comes to the price of reproductive medicine? Katharina Jaeger ends the book with a quote from Simone Weil: "Attention is the purest and rarest form of generosity." The way in which Jaeger expresses the desire to have children in this book is generous and reaches not only those affected and politicians, but also people whose vulnerability she can recall. This book deserves a lot of attention. Congratulations, Katharina Jaeger!
(c) Dr. Anja Schürmann | Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities (KWI) Essen | Research Associate / Research Organization
About the prize
The German Photo Book Prize is a competition in which a jury selects the best photo books in the German-speaking world. It honors special achievements by authors, photographers and publishers in the photo book sector.
A total of 87 awards were presented on 23.11.24, including 11 gold medals in twelve categories. One category remained without a gold award. All awards can be found here. The award-winning photo books are on display at the Städtische Galerie im Leeren Beutel, Regensburg, until February 2, 2025. Afterwards, the award-winning books will go on an exhibition tour through Europe and Asia for a year.