The Meaning of Home

The exhibition ‘Home No. 6’ – featuring the 33 series shortlisted for the Vonovia Award for Photography – is open at Hanover’s Sprengel Museum from November 9, 2022 to January 8, 2023. Curated by Reinhard Spieler, the showcase brings together different approaches to the theme of ‘Home’ – from depictions of intimacy, hope and belonging, to visual explorations of loss, destruction, peril and alienation.

The showcase includes this year’s Best Photo Series: Philip Cheung’s ‘Days of Destruction’ (1st prize), David Klammer’s ‘The Line // What the Water Left Behind’ (2nd prize) and Takako Kido’s ‘Skinship’ (3rd prize) - as well as the series ‘Our Dollhouse’ by this year’s Young Talent Award winner, Francesca Hummler.

Philip Cheung (USA) spent two months in Ukraine, documenting the plight of communities on the front lines of war. His twelve-image series shows the destruction and the loss of people’s homes, but also the resilience of individuals, families and entire communities.

In the aftermath of the devastating Ahr River flood of 2021, David Klammer (Germany) photographed the lines and markings on the interior walls of the affected homes, which revealed themselves once the water had subsided. His black-and-white series, ‘Die Linie’ (The Line) presents viewers with subtle allusions to personal memories and misfortunes.

‘Skinship’ is an expression widely used in Japan to describe the close physical and emotional bond between mother and child. For Takako Kido (Japan), the concept of nurturing through skin-to-skin contact always seemed entirely natural. It was only when she was arrested in New York for family snapshots of skinship, that she realised how shocking it could seem in other cultural contexts.

In her series ‘Unsere Puppenstube’ (Our Dollhouse), Young Talent Award winner Francesca Hummler addresses the adverse and borderline racist reactions her parents received from extended family when they adopted her younger sister from Ethiopia.

For further information visit Vonovia Award
Sprengel Museum Hannover