BERLIN.- At the heart of this exhibition are the transformative forces that shape our lives. They connect the visible with the invisible and the rational with the paradoxical. How can connections emerge, and where does the search for belonging lead to tensions? Where do the magic and absurdity of everyday life reveal themselves? FREELENS Young Professionals and photographers from the Hamburg Portfolio Review examine the rituals, contradictions, and hidden forces that shape our human existence.

Through fragmentary approaches and visual narratives of the work of Andrea Duran, Oded Wagenstein, and Doro Zinn, the exhibition becomes a dialogue about the complexity of human life. It is an invitation to discover new perspectives, question social realities, and embrace the multifaceted nature of our shared existence.

FREELENS e.V. was founded in 1995 by 128 photojournalists to counteract the progressive deterioration of working conditions for photographers. Today, the professional association has around 2,100 members, making it the largest organization for professional photographers in Germany.

Andrea Duran: Mi hermana tiene miedo del fin del mundo

Andrea Durán explores a deeply personal yet universally relevant theme through a visual and textual dialogue with her sister, who developed an intense fear of the end of the world during her adolescence. Triggered by alarming media reports and scientific predictions about the climate crisis, this fear became a lens through which Durán explores the anxieties, imagination, and rebellion of her generation. Blending photographs with excerpts from her sister's diaries and contemporary conversations, the work moves between fiction and reality, revealing a space where fear becomes a catalyst for questioning and change. Durán's images capture fleeting impressions: artificial light, altered colors, and small animals struggling to navigate altered ecosystems. In these poetic fragments, the apocalypse is not a spectacle but a slow decay already underway—a world where moths are disoriented under neon skies and the sun creeps ever closer.

Oded Wagenstein: Like Last Year’s Snow

In the remote village of Yar-Sale in Northern Siberia, Oded Wagenstein encountered a group of elderly women who were once part of a nomadic community of reindeer herders. Now, in their old age, they live in isolation, separated from nature and the traditions that once shaped their lives. Reaching the village requires a flight, a 60-hour train ride from Moscow, and a seven-hour journey across a frozen river. Over many days and countless cups of tea, the women shared their stories, sang lullabies, and spoke of their longings—fragments of a way of life that is increasingly disappearing. Wagenstein's work primarily explores the theme of aging and older people in different societies. In this series, he combines portraits of the women with images of the landscape where they once lived. Memories and present realities intertwine, offering a visual testimony to lives in transition. The title, derived from a Yiddish expression meaning something no longer relevant, gently contradicts itself and emphasizes that these women and their stories are still important.

Doro Zinn: Future Kids

Leila, Coco, Mo, and İlhan are four young people who grew up in Germany as children of Muslim immigrants from Turkey and Palestine, respectively. Since 2016, Doro Zinn has been working with them on questions of identity, belonging, and representation. They navigate identities shaped by migration histories and contemporary realities, moving between gentrified neighborhoods and high-rise buildings, hip-hop and tradition, social benefits and faith. Their parents came to Germany as so-called guest workers—part of the post-war workforce that was never meant to stay. While some migrant communities were gradually integrated into Germany's social fabric, millions of Muslims continue to face systematic exclusion and racism. Through documentary photography, intimate portraits, archival footage, and personal contributions from the protagonists—including lyrics and rap songs—Zinn creates a multi-layered narrative. Together with Leila, Coco, Mo and İlhan, she questions traditional stereotypes and demands space for more differentiated, self-defined stories of a generation that is often talked about but rarely has its say.