On the Lakeshore ...and other Stories

“Events do not just succeed each other or simply follow a chronological course; they are constantly being rearranged according to whether they belong to a particular sheet of past, a particular continuum of age, all of which coexist.” Gilles Deleuze

Is it really so easy tell your own life story in photographs? The camera has become a constant companion in our everyday lives; photography is something we now take for granted.

Photos serve as souvenirs and memory aids, assuring us of our own existence and documenting family, friends, and acquaintances. In general, however, this kind of personal photography produces a loosely connected string of moments, while perceptions, emotions, and interpretations remain disconnected, strongly coded, and hermetically sealed. Iris Janke has made her own life the subject of her photography— offering up her life to public view. Her work treads a fine line between reflection and intuition, between control and chance. Every day she makes decisions: each moment of her life might have some importance for the narrative being recorded in her visual diary. From innumerable scenes and events, she must select those images that have the strongest narrative power, that reveal underlying structures and establish connections. Telling something about your own life in the medium of photography is difficult if you want do more than simply talk about yourself. It is a project without a conclusion, a work in permanent progress.