Awarded
Jennifer Santschy
'<LOL*>' (diploma work)
Photography
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
'LOL*'
© Körner Union, Lausanne
Jennifer Santschy
Jennifer Santschy
Jury report
Presenting oneself and being oneself
The photographer Jennifer Santschy started her work with a study of blogs that young girls use to present and express themselves. Spaces that are both intimate and public. The girls and young women use photographs and texts they have written themselves in the abbreviated, coded language of blogs. The photographer was touched by these self-presentations, and she decided to create portraits of ten of these girls who all train in the same dance group. The work called '<LOL*>' combined images and texts by the girls, who are aged between 13 and 16 years. '<LOL*>' stands for the term 'Laughing Out Loud', which is often used in the blogs. The book includes two kinds of photographs that look at the people portrayed in different ways: self-portraits taken against a white background in the studio and pictures of the group in public places. The studio pictures show teenagers turning from girls into women. Their poses are borrowed from models. They try to present themselves in an attractive, sexy light – which seems strange because the two worlds of glossy magazines and the way the teenage girls present themselves clash. But the group pictures seem more natural, and show the girls in relaxed poses and atmospheres. Here they are talking to friends, looking at each other, rather than straight at the camera, as in the studio shots. Jennifer Santschy has captured intimate moments of friendship in these photographs. In the book, the photographer has scattered the text between the photographs, in capital letters and a pink typeface. They are difficult to understand for the uninitiated, and one approaches them as if they were in a foreign language that one is less than familiar with. '<LOL*>' documents a group of girls at a time when self-representation in public media is an everyday matter.
Ariana Pradal
Biography
Jennifer Santschy
Born in
1983
Education
designer HES en communication visuelle, spécialisation photographie
