Sunday Spotlight: Oliver Raschka

Project Title: Sorrow Is All The Pain Of Love

Artist Statement:  

We’re all prey to the sorrow. It’s so important to become aware of this, to develop a mindful approach in order to learn, to grow and to be able to get as much positive energy as possible from it. Otherwise, everyday life is determined by being fearful and rigid.

With Sorrow Is All The Pain of Love, Oliver Raschka provides personal insights, which reveal a deeper psychogram based on an unintentional and unconscious documentation of states of mind and how they manifest visually. All photographs are from the archive (2010-2024). As a kind of photographic diary, the work supports the process of healing and strengthening a mindful approach in a way of curiosity and self-confidence in the presence of profound family upheavals, serious illness and burnout. In essence, the work deals with personal sorrow of loss and pain in the search for his own identity.

Basically, the essay addresses existential questions of life by means of universally readable photographs: Why do we take (unintentionally) particular photographs in moments of personal upheaval or extreme situations? What do the photographs want to reveal? How can we learn from visual disclosure and gain positive energy for difficult life situations that we want to face with ease and self-confidence?

For Oliver Raschka, the deepest suffering caused by sorrow for one's own life and family is hidden in what we love the most. The confrontation with visual narratives provides him with new insights and alternative courses of action. It supports the constructive and positive process of catharsis from personal trauma.

Bio:

Oliver Raschka studied and holds a doctorate in the field of behavioral economics. This helps him to capture the dynamics and specifics of social relationships in his photography. For many years, the photographic autodidact has been dealing with the subject of family and the search for his own identity in documentary format. He lives with his family in Stuttgart (Germany). His second book Tween was published in 2023 via BUMMBUMM Books. His accolades include: Der Spiegel, German Photobook Prize, Lensculture Emerging Talents Award, Lensculture Critics’ Choice Award, Lenscratch, Eltern family, Gomma Grant Shortlist, Critical Mass Finalist, Photovogue, Stuttgarter Zeitung, Schwarzweiss Magazin, Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, Schwarzweiss Magazin.

You can find more of Oliver Rashka’s work on Instagram