København/Sjælland

Jens Juul er prisvindende fotograf og billedkunstner med portrættet som et centralt omdrejningspunkt i sit arbejde. Han er oprindeligt uddannet portrætmaler og har arbejdet som grafiker og billedkunstner, inden han i 2012 videreuddannede sig til fotograf.

Hans fotografiske arbejde kredser særligt om det intime portræt og om mødet mellem fotograf og den fotograferede.

At skabe et rum

Udgangspunktet for Jens Juuls portrætter er ofte mødet med mennesker, han ikke kender på forhånd. For Juul begynder portrættet derfor ikke med kameraet, men med den relation, der opstår, når to mennesker for en stund deler det samme rum.

Gennem nærvær, tillid og gensidighed skabes et rum, hvor den fotograferede ikke blot bliver motiv, men deltager i portrættet.

De portrætter, der vises på Fotografernes Efterårsudstilling i Nowhuset, forestiller mennesker, mange allerede kender fra deres offentlige liv. Juul forsøger ikke at afsløre, hvem et menneske “egentlig” er, men undersøger i stedet, hvad der kan opstå i mødet mellem to mennesker, som kort forinden var fremmede for hinanden.

Portrættet bliver dermed et billede af mødet – og af den nærhed, der for et kort øjeblik kan opstå mellem to mennesker.

Jens Juuls fotografiske arbejde har været vist på en lang række udstillinger i Danmark og internationalt og har modtaget flere danske og internationale priser, heriblandt anerkendelser ved Magnum Photography Awards, Sony World Photography Awards, International Photographer of the Year (IPOTY), BBA Photography Prize, Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3) og Årets Pressefoto.

Jens Juul is an award-winning photographer and visual artist whose work centres on portraiture. Originally trained as a portrait painter, he has also worked as a graphic designer and visual artist before completing further training as a photographer in 2012.

His photographic work focuses particularly on intimate portraiture and on the encounter between photographer and subject.

Creating a Space

Jens Juul’s portraits often begin with encounters with people he has never met before. For Juul, the portrait therefore begins not with the camera, but with the connection that emerges when two people share the same space for a moment.

Through presence, trust and mutual engagement, a space is created in which the person being photographed is not merely a subject, but an active participant in the portrait.

The portraits presented at the Photographers’ Autumn Exhibition at Nowhuset depict people whom many will already recognise from public life. Juul does not attempt to reveal who a person “really” is, but instead explores what can emerge in an encounter between two people who, only moments before, were strangers.

The portrait thus becomes an image of the encounter itself – and of the sense of intimacy that can briefly arise between two people.

Jens Juul’s photographic work has been exhibited extensively in Denmark and internationally and has received numerous Danish and international awards and distinctions, including recognition from the Magnum Photography Awards, Sony World Photography Awards, International Photographer of the Year (IPOTY), BBA Photography Prize, Prix de la Photographie Paris (PX3) and Årets Pressefoto.