Joachim Baldauf Libri

The German photographer Joachim Baldauf (b. in the Allgäu, 1965; lives in Berlin, works internationally) creates pictures of captivating clarity and subtle irony. They are more than just photographs or fashion shots, more than just youth culture or lifestyle. Due to Baldauf's very personal approach, his pictures always present the human subject as an individual. Baldauf is the unchallenged number one among Germany's fashion and portrait photographers and an influential leader in matters of style; his work has appeared in all renowned magazines. After studying textile design with a focus on photography and fashion illustration, Baldauf worked as a freelance art director for several years before devoting himself to photography fulltime. He now also publishes the magazine Vorn and teaches. He has received numerous awards, including Cover of the Year, the Lead Award, the Art Directors Club Award, and the Distinctive Merit Award. Includes a conversation between Tyler Brûlé, the founder and former editorial director of Wallpaper* and present editorinchief of Monocle, and Ariel Childs, the former photo editor at Wallpaper*, an essay by Tillmann Prüfer, an editor at Die Zeit and the style director at Zeit Magazin, and a preface by Uta Grosenick, publisher, Distanz Verlag.

Schönhässlich – Das Magazin Die Idee des Schönheitsideals prägt bis heute die Mode. Auch wenn es sich stetig ändert, beansprucht jede Epoche, ihr eigenes Ideal hervorzubringen. Doch warum sollten die Schönheitsvorstellungen im Zeitalter von Globalisierung, Demokratisierung und Instagram nicht vielfältiger ausfallen? Immer nur schöne Mode an gleichgeschaltet-schönen Körpern führt zu einer Normierung, die alles andere und Abweichende unterdrücken muss. Schönhässlich – Das Magazin zeigt, wie es anders geht: Mode, Fotostrecken und Texte trennen nicht mehr in Schön und Hässlich. Sie loten die Grenzen aus, hier kippt es mehr in die eine, hier mehr in die andere Richtung. Werte und Vorstellungen werden unterwandert, Tabus gebrochen, Geschlechtererwartungen relativiert. „Schön“ ist, was uns bewegt und was man so noch nicht gesehen hat.