TWEEN

The long-term documentation TWEEN (2019-2023) is a personal visual sociology of puberty and brotherhood in times of the pandemic and other family and social crises. It's a kind of state report of confusion, anxiety, illness, rebellion, but also self-determination, friendship and love. Thus, the work also reflects an unsteady time for the father and photographer Oliver Raschka, recovering from burnout and depression. As if puberty isn’t enough of a stress test for young people who have to come to terms with themselves and their environment and find their place in life, while the whole world seems to be heading for a tipping point. This means that puberty and drastic external changes hit them all at once and with full force: be it the covid pandemic, which clearly shows the limits of the outdated school system and our social coexistence, the war in Ukraine, which directly affects our social and democratic values, the unsustainable economic system with the relentless striving for performance even for the youngest or the regional severe weather events that have been on the rise for years. For young teens, this can lead to an increase in their confusion and intensifies their feelings of isolation and rebellion to the point of complete overwhelm and pure indifference or aggression. The feeling of not being able to tell up from down mutates to a permanent state. Moments of joy, exuberance and friendship, which are so important for identity formation and self-acceptance, won’t happen very often, but gain a great deal of importance as a result if they do. Dealing with puberty in the context of this long-term project and in his role as a father has shown Oliver Raschka that tweens are faced with many issues that they cannot handle and which they actually shouldn’t have to handle either as many of them are caused by adults, who are unable to solve them quickly and wisely. Young people receive too little social attention with regard to their problems and fears for the future and are threatened with falling through the cracks. In summary, TWEEN documents a period of life in which children become teenagers, but at a time when they not only have to fight a struggle with themselves, but in view of the isolation in the pandemic and its long-term consequences, as well as fundamental ecological and economic upheavals. TWEEN captures this particular phase of human life in an honest and universal way. No staging, no posing. Just real life.