Once a year

It is carnival in south-western Germany: On the streets of Endingen and Sachsenheim, Kissleg and Singen, Wilfingen and Triberg, the elaborate and lavish costumes of the Swabian-Alemannic tradition are paraded. The fashion and portrait photographer Axel Hoedt from the area of Breisgau in Germany shows the carnival revellers and their disguises beyond established clichés and radically breaks with carnival iconography. No breath taking somersaults in front of the crowds and romantic timber framework, no crazy goings-on but revellers in earnest pose, in front of a bright background, in a forest or in front of customary functional buildings. Classical studio shots, Polaroid snapshots and still life images are juxtaposed. Hoedt regularly confronts the quaint masks with the wintry-rigid scenery impressions and reminds us of what carnival used to be: a last jamboree before the dawning of hard times. Axel Hoedt was born in Freiburg in 1966 and studied photo design at the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld. He has lived and worked in London since 1999. Axel Hoedt has received numerous awards such as the Gold Medal of Lead Awards in 2010 and the Otto-Steinert-Preis of the German Society of Photography in 2011.