Es sind existentielle Prozesse im Leben, denen sich der Fotograf Yougo Jeberg in seiner Arbeit verschrieben hat. Seine Bilder erzählen vom Erwachsenwerden. Von dem Moment in dem man an einer Schwelle steht, und zurückblickt auf eine Zeit der Unbeschwertheit und Leichtigkeit, in der die Freunde der Mittelpunkt des Lebens sind und man in seinem ganz eigenen Kosmos lebt. Sie erzählen davon, wie man sich dagegen wehrt die jungen Jahre als einen Lebensabschnitt zu begreifen, obwohl es doch unausweichlich ist, und dienen selbst als Mittel diese Zeit zu verewigen und somit auch ein Stück weit loszulassen. So ist das Fotografieren für Jeberg zu einer befreienden Notwendigkeit geworden, dem Leben und seinen Herausforderungen und Veränderungen zu begegnen und sein umfangreiches Portfolio liest sich wie das Tagebuch seiner Reise.
Obwohl der 20-jährige Franzose, der mittlerweile in New York lebt, auch große kommerzielle Produktionen schießt, sind seine Freunde nach wie vor das liebste Motive seiner Arbeit und die Art, mit der er seine Bilder als Form gemeinsamer Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen festhält, macht sie zu authentischen, ehrlichen und persönlichen Zeugen seiner Zeit.
I really like your projects ‘Stuck in the youth’ and ‘Overcome death’. Can you tell us something about that?
‘Stuck in the youth’ means when you are young, you are innocent and don’t really know what is happening around you, you are far away from the reality. Then you continue to grow up and you wanna stay in this innocence, so it’s why I call it stuck in the youth. We don’t want to be adults, just want to keep doing our foolishness. ‘Overcome death’ is the album after ‘Stuck in youth’, I changed the name because something happened in my life and it changed my point of view on death and creepy stuff, it still does even today. Now I got a new album called Cruisin’ is the answer (I moved to NYC), like ‘How to overcome death, Cruisin’ is the answer’…
Are some photographs emblematic of your work? Which one for example and why?
I really don’t know if there is one photo emblematic of my work but I like the last photo I did, it’s kind of emblematic of my work, as well as of my life. I like chilling with my friends in landscapes, in the wild, I like creating photos with nothing or just with things we found on the moment.
What needs to be particular for you in a motif?
The reality of our way of living, the truth of the youth.
Apart from your commercials, do you mostly take pictures of friends of yours? Are they mostly eager to be photographed?
I mostly take pictures of my friends or people I meet, and I also take pictures of my friends for commercials too. Because I know I will do a good shoot if I’m with them. It’s not really the same when you take pictures of people you never met. I do my best photos when they are not aware or when they don’t want to be photographed!
Do you/they find it easier when alcohol or partying is involved? Also in terms of: How much do you like to portray a certain lifestyle?
We often have fun with or without alcohol, it’s easier when we are in a good mood, we do crazy stuff, we discover unknown places, it’s always an experience, an experience makes it easier because we don’t get bored.
Do you think photography can be a tool to work against transitoriness? Is there such a thing as the aura of a photograph?
Yeah sure, it’s more than a tool, it’s a weapon against transitoriness, photos stuck us in the youth, the more we live, the more we do photos and the more we want to stay in that ephemeral experience. There is an aura in every picture, maybe picture of a boy running naked in the grass has got a deeper aura than a sleeping kitten.
