Open Category: Photojournalism / Story (AMATEUR) - HONORABLE MENTION
St. Pauli

Photo © Manuel Armenis
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The photographic series (2010 - 2016) is a portrait of the long-time residents of the Quarter of St. Pauli in Hamburg Germany.
This workingman´s area has always been a melting pot for people from all walks of life and backgrounds. The liberal spirit of the Quarter attracted many colorful figures from the fringes of society. Here they could be themselves without being labeled, judged or looked down upon. Here they were not stigmatized for being different or maladjusted.
But due to recent restructuring and commercial exploitation the territory and the leeway to allow for otherness, uniqueness, individuality and nonconformism have become much scarcer.
The photographic series is an attempt to capture the muted world of an outdated, transient and disintegrating St. Pauli. It is a restrained world, a vanishing cosmos.
I was interested in the faces and the stories of the long-time residents, their everyday world, their small struggles and simple pleasures. Those characters who sometimes appear to have fallen out of time and to seemingly have got stuck in-between different eras; with traces of slightly better days on one side of their lives and the apprehension of an uncertain future on the other. For how much longer will they be able to call St. Pauli home?
After working as a photographer`s assistant he went on to study at the Icart Ecole de Photography in Paris, France and later on to study film at the London College of Printing, London, UK (from where he is holding a BA/Hons).
As an independent filmmaker he realized a number of short films (both narrative as well as documentary based) but gradually the emphasis of his practice shifted more towards photography, with a focus on long-term projects mainly exploring the human condition in everyday urban environments.
Manuel lives and works as a freelance photographer in Hamburg, Germany.
In 2015 his work was featured in group exhibitions in Germany, Hungary and the USA and has been published in several magazines in print and online.
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The photographic series (2010 - 2016) is a portrait of the long-time residents of the Quarter of St. Pauli in Hamburg Germany.
This workingman´s area has always been a melting pot for people from all walks of life and backgrounds. The liberal spirit of the Quarter attracted many colorful figures from the fringes of society. Here they could be themselves without being labeled, judged or looked down upon. Here they were not stigmatized for being different or maladjusted.
But due to recent restructuring and commercial exploitation the territory and the leeway to allow for otherness, uniqueness, individuality and nonconformism have become much scarcer.
The photographic series is an attempt to capture the muted world of an outdated, transient and disintegrating St. Pauli. It is a restrained world, a vanishing cosmos.
I was interested in the faces and the stories of the long-time residents, their everyday world, their small struggles and simple pleasures. Those characters who sometimes appear to have fallen out of time and to seemingly have got stuck in-between different eras; with traces of slightly better days on one side of their lives and the apprehension of an uncertain future on the other. For how much longer will they be able to call St. Pauli home?
About author:
Manuel Armenis was born 1971 in Mannheim, Germany.After working as a photographer`s assistant he went on to study at the Icart Ecole de Photography in Paris, France and later on to study film at the London College of Printing, London, UK (from where he is holding a BA/Hons).
As an independent filmmaker he realized a number of short films (both narrative as well as documentary based) but gradually the emphasis of his practice shifted more towards photography, with a focus on long-term projects mainly exploring the human condition in everyday urban environments.
Manuel lives and works as a freelance photographer in Hamburg, Germany.
In 2015 his work was featured in group exhibitions in Germany, Hungary and the USA and has been published in several magazines in print and online.
BACK TO GALLERY