Yana Wernicke's Companions: Our species loneliness and beyond.

Image copyright Yana Wernicke, from Companions.

John Berger’s landmark Why Look at Animals? describes the ‘species loneliness’ of modern man: how the ancient relationships between humans and nature have broken down, reducing the existence of animals to marginalised objects, as commodities, and as Other. 

This is the work of German photographer Yana Wernicke, currently based in a small town close to Frankfurt am Main. Her work often revolves around the photographic depiction of animals and humankind’s relationship to nature and other beings.

Concerned with modern humanity’s yearning for a deeper connection to ecology, Wernicke’s series is a touching portrait of two young women who have established profound relationships with animals. Rosina and Julie each independently save animals from certain death and create bonds of love and trust with animals typically considered solely for their economic value.

In German, Companions, or Weggefährten, is a hybrid word that translates literally as ‘those who walk the path together’. Through tenderness, touch and intuition, Wernicke’s camera follows that path – of joy, emotions, tenderness and play between humans and animals – striving to close the gulf between our emotional consciousness and those of the other animals we live alongside.

Luckily, you can enjoy her work Companions in person not only in the book format, available at The Library Project, at the ENERGY: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption, running in North Wall until 10 November 2024.

The exhibition, hosted at a temporary site in the North Bank House (49 Castleforbes Road, Dublin 1), include the works of other 7 artists from across Europe: Antonio Guerra (ES), Dávid Biró (HU), Hiền Hoàng (VE/DE), Martia Pinto Machado (CV/PT), Tanja Engleberts (NL), Umberto Diecinove (IT), and Yana Kononova (UA).

You will find Tanja Engleberts' photobook, Forgotten Seas, also at The Library Project, while stocks last.

ENERGY: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption is a group exhibition, an anthology of diverse photography projects focusing on energy, one of the most relevant and complex topics today, and one which everybody has to deal with either as a private or as a public matter. The show comprises work by eight international artists from the FUTURES Photography Platform, of which PhotoIreland is the Irish representative. 

From personal stories to documentary and social approaches, to the exploration of the limits of photography as a medium seeking new forms of narration, each photo series and multi-media installations lined up in the ENERGY: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption exhibition could stand on its own as a case study, providing a condensed representation of the ideas associated with this multilayered topic. While some projects talk about the destructive forces of energy in warfare or in extractivist society, others explore existing strategies as possible solutions, exemplify desirable companionships, and reflect on healing. Finally, there is a perspective on how the colonial and capitalist structures shaped contemporary cities and how the energy of presence in these spaces could be a form of resistance.

Each year, a number of FUTURES members co-curate an international travelling exhibition. This year's exhibition  ENERGY: Redistributing Power and Taming Consumption is co-curated by members FOTODOK, PhotoIreland, and the Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, with Fotomuseum Antwerpen with Trigger as publishing partner. The Dublin exhibition is curated by Ángel Luis González and Julia Gelezova (PhotoIreland), with the support of Emese Mucsi (Capa Center) and Daria Tuminas (FOTODOK).

Find out more about FUTURES Photography Platform at futures-photography.com and about the work of PhotoIreland to advance Photography in Ireland at photoireland.org