5 minute read
Photography Feature: Being noticed - not photographed
When, as a 14-year-old, Julia Runge came across the photo series titled Sleeping by the Mississippi by Alec Soth, she was immediately attracted to documentary and portrait photography. Not long after, Julia joined her first photography class and, at the tender age of 16, did her first internship at a photo studio. After graduating from high school, she studied photography in Berlin.
Today Julia works as a freelance photographer. Although living in Germany, she has been working in Southern Africa for over a decade. Her interest in the region was sparked by a two-year stay in Namibia between 2010 to 2012. She completed her studies in photography in 2015 with the project Basterland, focusing on the cultural legacy of the Baster ethnic group. It resulted in a documentary film in 2022, with Julia playing a major role in its production.
Her work focuses on portraiture and deals primarily with social commitment and social structures, as well as cultural topics in Southern Africa. By using her natural and empathetic pictorial language, she aims to open an artistic insight into the subject.
Julia explains her process: “Ideas for my projects often come to me spontaneously or when moving around in a community. I always try to photograph something that means something to me and not because it is my job. An important factor in the realisation of my work is my strong personal connection to Southern Africa and its people. During my ten years of photographic work in the region, I have been able to establish many personal relationships at eye level, which form a good basis for my photo projects.”
Creating a connection between the audience and the subject is very important in her work. “Mutual trust is essential for me in my personal projects and thus, I take a lot of time. I want the protagonists to feel not only ‘pictured’ but noticed,” says Julia.
For her commercial work, she uses digital cameras but deliberately chooses analogue photography for personal work. Her weapon of choice is a Mamiya 645, manufactured in 1976, and Kodak Portra films. “One reason for that is because access to people who do not know me is easier with this camera. In my experience, the protagonists find my old-fashioned-looking camera less intimidating than a large-format digital camera and behave more naturally in front of the camera. Besides, the analogue camera forces me to slow down the work and reflect on my own images even before I release the shutter because it only allows me 15 images with a medium format film. For a good, intense portrait you have to take your time.”
Throughout her time spent in Namibia, Julia has met many women whose stories have touched her. Therefore, most of her personal projects focus on the individual fates of women in Southern Africa who have been able to assert themselves as strong, emancipated women and who act as important pillars to their communities in a largely patriarchal society.
“In my photos, I immerse myself in the world of these women and from the viewpoint of an observer I tell analogous and decelerated, quiet and confidential stories about them and their lives.”
One of her projects and its accompanying book, titled Shebeen Queens, is dedicated to the bar culture of Namibia and its predominantly female owners. What began in 2018 as a personal interest in bar culture in the townships ultimately became a heartfelt photographic project about women who do not let their living conditions define them. Women who want to rise above and become masters of their own destinies.
“In response to colonial politics and apartheid, shebeens initially served as a refuge for indigenous people who were persecuted because of their race. These bars, which first started in township living rooms, spread and grew in the shadow of illegality to become commercial bars and subcultural hubs. Today, the image of shebeens remains an ambivalent representation of a wide range of social manifestations. Shebeens are places of emancipation and subculture but their environments also channel alcoholism and crime. Yet, these are also places where women, despite the most difficult conditions, are able to set up their own businesses and provide for their families.”
Julia has received several awards for her work. Besides her work published in the German and international media, it has also been exhibited in Europe, America, Africa and China. Her workshops have been organised by the Goethe Institute in China and the College of the Arts in Namibia, among others. Since 2016, she has also been working as a trainer and mentor for young photographers.
