Lights out, camera on: Lucia Jacobs receives photography scholarship!

Lucia Jacobs is studying Art-Education-Therapy in her 6th semester in the class of Professor Andrea Sunder-Plassmann at Alanus University of Arts and Social Sciences. She has been taking photographs since the age of 14 and is one of twelve participants to have won a sponsorship scholarship from the Professional Association of Freelance Photographers and Film Designers (BFF).

Every two years, the BFF offers a unique sponsorship scholarship of 1,000 euros for the realization of a photography project. Participants receive support from BFF mentors, take part in multi-day workshops, and can present their final photography project at the award ceremony in Zingst followed by an exhibition tour. This year’s theme is “What holds our world together.” In the interview, Lucia Jacobs reveals more about her photography project.

You have been taking photographs since the age of 14. What led you to photography?

Photography was part of my private life from a very early age, because my stepmother took lots of photographs on our travels, and even back then I was always the one standing in front of the camera. As a teenager, together with my neighbor and equipped with an SLR camera, I secretly went into the former ghost district in Trier to take photographs myself and stage ourselves. What fascinates me most about photography is difficult to sum up briefly. It certainly includes lighting all the way to visual poetry, storytelling, capturing moments, the state of flow while photographing, and simply expressing one’s own emotional world and visual language – there are as many nuances as there are pixels in a single photograph.

You won the BFF sponsorship award with your concept “What holds our world together. Youth as the water wings of our society.” What is it about?

In my concept, I explored the question of what we as a society need in times of climate crisis, mass media, and an overwhelming flood of news. I came to the conclusion that life is hardly possible without hope. But that also includes the naivety, passion, overconfidence, and idealism of Generation Z. A mixture that at times borders on megalomania, but in my opinion contains exactly the kind of future-oriented, aspiring energy that is currently needed to hold our world together.

Why is this topic important to you?

First of all, this year’s BFF sponsorship award was based on the motto “What holds our world together,” and I interpreted the “our” in a very anthropocentric way, referring to human beings. Personally, the topic means a great deal to me, because for my little brother I very much hope that in times of climate crisis and war over land, food, and water, there is still hope for a future worth living. And because I have also learned for myself that I cannot really live without hope.

As part of the sponsorship award, you have the opportunity to realize your concept. Can you describe in more detail what you will do?

In fact, my plan has already changed somewhat since my mentor Chris Notkekuhlmann showed me a video work by Jonas Lindström. In addition to the planned photo series, I will now also create a video work on the subject. Moreover, I will no longer stage the attempt to portray my generation in a purely positive way, but instead aim for a more comprehensive picture that also visualizes our inner and outer struggles. In keeping with Dylan Thomas’s famous lines, “Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light,” I want to create a powerful and visually poetic work.

What does it mean to you personally to have received the award?

I felt as if I could achieve anything now! I see the award as a great gift and an opportunity to gain experience as well as attract attention for myself as an artist. My big dream is to enter the world of film, and it would be fantastic if this helped me get a foot in the door! To be honest, though, I also have a great deal of respect for the task. I want my work to get under people’s skin and move them – and that is something you first have to achieve.