ZIMMERMANN 26, BUBENREUTH 2008.
Influential, unique and highly-imitated – a member of the 90s fashion photography movement born from grunge, heroin chic and a dissatisfaction with image infatuation – Juergen Teller helped shift the paradigm to become one of the most prolific photographers of our age.
“People say to me, ‘You can’t do that’ and ‘This is too much’ and, you know what, fuck it. You should really do what you want to do.”
“Growing up, my visual language certainly didn’t come from middle class educated parents who go to art museums. Certainly not. I come from the countryside.”
Born in 1964 and raised in Germany, Teller comes from a family of bridge builders. Growing up, he lived next to a forest and, isolated from much of the usual lashings of popular culture, he would take himself on adventures among the trees when he wasn’t watching TV.
Raquel Zimmermann saw him returning to his mother’s home in Bubenreuth, Germany, a place where he is most inspired, to indulge in his teenage fantasies.
“Raquel was like the kind of girlfriend as a teenager I never had. Blonde hair and slightly hippy-ish.”
Juergen Teller: Zimmermann is published by Steidl.
