Yana Wernicke

“Bombay Dream looks at the individuality and circumstances of a number of young women in Mumbai who have come to the city in pursuit of an acting career. I photographed these aspiring actresses in their private rooms and apartments with the intention of allowing an intimate exchange and creative photographic collaboration based on trust and respect.

I felt the need to capture something about these young women whose existence is fluctuating constantly between self-definition and the ascriptions of others, between false assumptions and authentic bearings, between illusion and reality. I was on the lookout for signs of self-assertion, where a search for identity combines with self-dramatization. Bombay Dream is a subtle inquiry into their lives and ways of living that is governed by but also transcends documentary interest.”

Yana Wernicke (*1990) is a German, Berlin-based photographer. Combining documentary and artistic practices, her work focuses on themes such as the self-definitions of women, cultural heritage and interspecies relationships. She has exhibited and garnered awards in Germany and abroad for her solo works as well as her collaborative project “Zenker” (with Jonas Feige), which looks at the history and repercussions of the life of German botanist and gardener Georg August Zenker and which was recently published as a photobook by Edition Patrick Frey. Currently, Yana Wernicke is working on a new body of work that looks at the companionship between animals and humans.

Buy Yana’s new book here