Jürgen Chill

A person’s favourite place is a place which can be chosen at will. The person’s freedom is presupposed. Freedom, however, is not granted to all. Those that 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 mach 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 dehumanised 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.” (WestArt, Oktober 2008)

The award-winning photography series “zellen” won the 1st prize of the European Architectural Photography Prize in 2007.Prison cells of various penal institutions in Germany will be shown in centrally-perspective views.The series encompasses nine large-formation colour photographs.