Date: 2022

Project: Conversations with my Old Self

Ulrike’s most recent photographic series Conversations with My Old Self explores her personal identity and her aging process through autobiographical elements. Based on the idea that we are multi-faceted being, she uses a non-linear and non-chronological approach to share snippets, gestures, glances, memories that connect her present self to her younger self. With an introspective approach in her images, she revisits childhood traumas, accidents, desires, vulnerability, emotional states, and her search for agency.

Like Louise Bourgeois, an artist that influences her in the context of this project, she views family as a root of discomfort and alienation and finds the exploration of familial relationships cathartic. She is also inspired by Imogen Cunningham and Thelma Pepper who both undertook significant photographic projects over the age of 65, in Cunningham’s case over the age of 90 and who shared unique insights into older women’s lives.