After almost 25 years in the world of theater, Dutch photographer Carla Kogelman switched focus, graduating from the Foto Academie Amsterdam in 2011. Before entering theater, she had trained to be a social worker for children, and much of her practice focuses on capturing the innocence of childhood. She photographs her subjects over long periods of time, gaining invisibility through her constant presence, and treating them always as equals, and these attributes help her to gain real insight into their lives. Her series explore different stories and scenarios—the daily lives of Xhosa children in the Eastern Cape after Apartheid in her series “I AM SOUTH AFRICA,” or youth players in a small rugby club in Amersfoort in “ik ben rugby.” In 2018, her series “Ich Bin Waldviertel” which pictures two Austrian sisters, Hannah and Alena living on a farm in the small rural village of Merkenbrechts over the course of six years, won first prize World Press Photo in the long-term projects category, and we spoke to her about it as part of our annual collaboration with the awards.
