on capturing home 2025
Diploma work at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig
Accompanying texts
‘on capturing home’ invites you to reflect on home, identity and the relationship between nature and people. The photographs come from Großbach's own archive as well as from recent works. He uses analogue photography to explore these themes in depth. He asks himself what documentary photography can achieve - what it can show or trigger.
accepting
‘For many years I have craved comfort, a home.’
In several works, Großbach deals with his time in Finland and discusses belonging to a foreign country. He associates Finland with nature, tenderness and knee-high snow. However, this idealised view contrasts with the theft of land from the Sámi and racism.
existing
‘We need the calm, we need care and tenderness.’
Ten years ago, Großbach began photographing himself over a period of four months. He realised that gender is not determined solely by outward appearance or self-presentation. Changing name and gender marker entailed a bureaucratic effort: he created a book from 74 pages of reports, which shows the reality that trans people have to deal with. Ten years later, he produced further self-portraits focusing on other topics, such as neurodiversity.
coexisting
‘Collaboration is how we survive.’
Großbach approached the concept of untouched nature in Norway, Finland, and Poland. As soon as a person steps on the ground, is this space no longer natural? Does a tree in Poland have to be distinguished from one in Finland? These questions show that untouched nature is an illusion; we only exist and develop in connection with each other.
Text written in collaboration with Sakin Olosun
Diploma work at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig
Accompanying texts
‘on capturing home’ invites you to reflect on home, identity and the relationship between nature and people. The photographs come from Großbach's own archive as well as from recent works. He uses analogue photography to explore these themes in depth. He asks himself what documentary photography can achieve - what it can show or trigger.
accepting
‘For many years I have craved comfort, a home.’
In several works, Großbach deals with his time in Finland and discusses belonging to a foreign country. He associates Finland with nature, tenderness and knee-high snow. However, this idealised view contrasts with the theft of land from the Sámi and racism.
existing
‘We need the calm, we need care and tenderness.’
Ten years ago, Großbach began photographing himself over a period of four months. He realised that gender is not determined solely by outward appearance or self-presentation. Changing name and gender marker entailed a bureaucratic effort: he created a book from 74 pages of reports, which shows the reality that trans people have to deal with. Ten years later, he produced further self-portraits focusing on other topics, such as neurodiversity.
coexisting
‘Collaboration is how we survive.’
Großbach approached the concept of untouched nature in Norway, Finland, and Poland. As soon as a person steps on the ground, is this space no longer natural? Does a tree in Poland have to be distinguished from one in Finland? These questions show that untouched nature is an illusion; we only exist and develop in connection with each other.
Text written in collaboration with Sakin Olosun