Press releases

In his new book “TWEEN,” Oliver Raschka explores the intense period between childhood and becoming an adult. The black-and-white photographs depict a balancing act between separation and intimacy, change and continuity, restlessness and stillness. Everyday scenes capture moments of washing up dishes, gaming, and lounging on the sofa. At times, he portrays the brothers as thoughtful and introspective. Then they climb trees, dance, engage in arm wrestling, or conquer wild waters together. The boys are always hungry for action and speed. For those familiar with the photographs from his previous book “THE WORLD AIN’T ENOUGH...,” “TWEEN” offers a familiar sphere. It‘s fun to discover the same hair clipper, the same camper van, and the same wrestling mask as three years ago ... And yet, everything is different.

The "Tween" years documented by Raschka from 2020 to 2023 are also the years of the COVID-19 pandemic. For young people like Philip and Justus, the personal challenges of puberty intersect with school closures and lockdowns.

A war in the heart of Europe, climate anxiety, and an ever-changing environment with no guarantees for a good future are constant themes.

Oliver Raschka's long-term photographic project 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, both with each other and alongside each other - and capturing the moments - sensitively and empathetically. That is Raschka's great strength. Nothing is staged; everything is true, and as a viewer, you are invited to participate.

As a father who documents the lives of his own children through photography, Raschka fills a gap in contemporary art photography. Starting with Käthe Buchler, through Sally Mann to Katharina Bosse, the focus on one's own children has been predominantly influenced by women.

Raschka gives us an insight into an explicitly male perspective on childhood, youth, and parenthood in a time when nothing seems certain anymore. In doing so, he reflects on constructions of masculinity, his own childhood, and his role as a father.

"For me as a parent, the focus is now no longer on parenting but on guidance and support."

Oliver Raschka accompanies his sons through the absurdities of everyday life - as a father and as a photographer. Unpretentious and authentic, but always gentle and full of respect, he photographs his sons as the individuals they are at that moment.

As publishers, we are pleased to be able to present Oliver Raschka's second book.

About BUMMBUMM BOOKS

BUMMBUMM BOOKS is yet new in the publishing landscape and has set itself the ambitious goal of reclaiming the poetic space – whether in the form of photo books like this one, fine art prints or the freedom books, which are dedicated to personal concepts of freedom. A sharp eye, current topics of dispute, carefull design and outstanding print quality characterize the committed program of the Cologne-based publisher Florian v. Wissel.

On this page you will find approved press photos in print quality up to a height or widthof ca. 16 cm (please contact us if you will need images with higher resolution). As part of a review, the cover and up to three photographs from the book are approved for reproduction, provided the copyright notice is quoted.

In the press download below you will find further material:

Oliver Raschka shows the colourful and exciting first ten years of his two sons in black and white. On 128 pages the viewer participates in the rapid developments of the first years of life of his two boys. At home, at play, after school, at sporting events or when out shopping - Raschka takes pictures from real life. And this is an exciting real life! With great sensitivity and compassion he portrays joy, anger, sadness and wild euphoria. After just a few pages, the viewer is right in the midst of it and conquers the world alongside with the kids.

„My sons are early birds. Their nights end between six and seven o’clock in the morning. After getting up, they are in full swing and with their vivid imagination they take in the world within seconds. The world ain’t enough …! The world ain’t enough! Their childlike thirst for conquest inspired me to the title of this book.“

A father who is reliving parts of his childhood with his sons. Who reflects and knows in every second that these moments will be passing. The remarkable aspect of this book is the masculine perspective on both of his sons. In contemporary photographic art it is mainly women who reflect and interpret their perspective upon their children and their everyday life. Furthermore, the children photographed are mostly girls. Here this indeed is different and thus new and unseen. As with Sally Mann, the gaze is not focused on the family but solely on the children. But in place of a paradise garden, here a limited space has been created in which the boys must above all: Move! Action is the motto! As soon as they wake up, the action starts. And luckily there are two of them and they are in mutual agreement on this point at least. And Raschka is always on board. Never again will growing up be as wonderful as it is with small children. And as Raschka knows that, he takes pictures. With the same vigour as his sons start into their day in the morning.

Raschka's book reveals a gap in contemporary photography.

We as a publishing house are pleased to be able to fill it.

About BUMMBUMM BOOKS

BUMMBUMM BOOKS is yet new in the publishing landscape and has set itself the ambitious goal of reclaiming the poetic space – whether in the form of photo books like this one, fine art prints or the freedom books, which are dedicated to personal concepts of freedom. A sharp eye, current topics of dispute, carefull design and outstanding print quality characterize the committed program of the Cologne-based publisher Florian v. Wissel.

On this page you will find approved press photos in print quality up to a height or widthof ca. 16 cm (please contact us if you will need images with higher resolution). As part of a review, the cover and up to three photographs from the book are approved for reproduction, provided the copyright notice is quoted.

In the press download below you will find further material:

Adolescence is the topic of Ute Behrend's new photo book. It tells of a fictitious "Indian tribe" that separates its pubescent girls from other group members and dresses them in bearskins in order to protect them from premature sexualization. Thus a shelter is created that allows the girls to develop freely and self-determinedly in this important phase of their lives. Behrend calls them "bear girls" and draws parallels to our society, in which free spaces for adolescent girls are constantly diminishing.

In an interview at the end of the book, Ute Behrend states that many girls try to evade the stereotypes of sexualised identification that are shaped by society and the media. This is often manifested in the girls behavioural patterns such as wearing too large sweaters, borrowed from their father's wardrobe. Behrend understands bear girls as a perfect antithesis to Lolita, the child woman invented by Vladimir Nabokov. On the back cover of the photo book she quotes from John Irving's novel "Hotel New Hampshire": It's funny,' Susie said, 'I'm not really a big fighter, but nobody tries to mess with a bear. All I have to do is grab a guy like that and he'll roll up and start whimpering. (...) Nobody fights back when you're a bear.' In Irving's novel too, a girl needs a heavy coat: after being sexually assaulted, she uses a bearskin to protect her identity.

However, the original idea is much older. The Greek goddess Artemis dressed her playmates in bearskins to shelter them from the sexual desire of men. If one of them had been with a man, whether intentionally or unintentionally, she was expelled from the palace.

Ute Behrend has created a photo book full of poetic compositions. Things become visible that do not belong to the visible. Using the emotional power of her images, she formulates new mysteries. The Previously unthought was found and woven into new riddles. 'Her' bear girls move in them as if immersed in an archetypically nature-oriented environment. They seem timeless, delicately sensitive and lost. Many of the girls' portraits look as if they were taken in random situations. The opposite is the case. Behrend has carefully researched and staged places as well as actors. And just like in a fictional story, there are also wild animals to be admired. Often far away and quite small in size within the image. They neither want to be seen nor touched – just like the bear girls in this book.

About BUMMBUMM BOOKS

BUMMBUMM BOOKS is yet new in the publishing landscape and has set itself the ambitious goal of reclaiming the poetic space – be it in the form of photo books such as this one by co-editor Ute Behrend, fine art prints or freedom books dedicated to the very personal concepts of freedom. A sharp eye, current topics of dispute, carefull design and outstanding print quality characterize the ambitious program of the Cologne-based publisher Florian v. Wissel.

On this page you will find approved press photos in print quality up to a width of 16 cm (for a higher resolution please contact us). As part of a review, the cover and up to three photographs from the book are approved for reproduction, provided the copyright notice is quoted.

In the press download below you will find further material: