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Personal statement by photographer Oliver RASCHKA
"For me as a parent, the focus is no longer on education, but on advice and support." (Oliver RASCHKA)
Background information
"Inbetween - How boys become young men. In his photo book 'Tween', Oliver RASCHKA sheds light on the intense time between being a child and becoming an adult. The black and white photographs show a balancing act between demarcation and intimacy, change and continuity, restlessness and stillness. The everyday scenes show them washing up, gambling and lounging on the sofa. Sometimes he shows the brothers pensive and introverted. Then again they climb trees, dance, compete in arm wrestling or conquer wild waters together. The boys are always hungry for action and speed. Anyone familiar with the photographs from previous years from his book 'The World Ain't Enough' will find themselves in a familiar sphere in 'Tween'. It's fun to discover the same hair clippers, the same camper van and the same wrestling mask as three years ago ... And yet everything is different.
The documented 'tween' years of 2020 to 2023 are also the years of the COVID-19 pandemic. For young people like Philip and Justus, the very personal challenges of puberty come up against school closures and lockdowns. A war in the middle of Europe, climate fears and a constantly changing environment in which there are no longer any guarantees for a good future are constant themes.
However, the long-term photographic project by Oliver RASCHKA also shows that life is a mosaic of fleeting moments. Time never stands still. For him and his sons, this means one thing above all: growing together and with each other - and capturing the moments - sensitively and empathetically. That is Oliver RASCHKA's great strength. Nothing is staged, everything is true and as a viewer you are invited to share in it.
As a father who accompanies the lives of his own children photographically, he fills a gap in contemporary photographic art. From Käthe BUCHLER to Sally MANN and Katharina BOSSE, the view of one's own children has so far been dominated by women. Oliver RASCHKA gives us an insight into an explicitly male perspective on childhood, youth and parenthood at a time when nothing seems to be certain anymore. He reflects on constructions of masculinity, his own childhood and his role as a father.
Content
In his series 'Tween', published as a book, photographer and father Oliver RASCHKA accompanies his sons through the labyrinth of the 'tween' years. In sixty black and white photographs, the transition to adulthood is sometimes loud, sometimes quiet - and is full of nuances. He accompanies his sons through the absurdities of everyday life - as a father and as a photographer. Unposed and authentic, but always cautious and full of respect, he photographs his sons as the people they are right now." (slightly adapted publisher's text, © Bummbumm, 2023)