21 grams : Celine Yasemin

The human soul is said to weigh 21 grams. But what is the soul, and what makes us human? What do friendship, relationship, partnership entail? How and, most importantly, who defines us and our (gender) identity, our way of loving and living? Is it society? Or rather we ourselves? In her book, the photographer Celine Yasemin addresses these fundamental questions. She has turned her lens on friends and fleeting acquaintances, people from various cultural and social backgrounds who do not identify with the norm, who live a self-determined life with different experiences, preferences, and approaches to life, who comply neither with traditional roles nor relationship models.

With deeply empathetic images, Yasemin portrays her fellow human beings. She has succeeded in showing people in their most vulnerable state: in their private surroundings, in bed, naked, without makeup – and without sugarcoating anything. Her careful use of lighting together with her great sense for detail have resulted in pictures full of intimacy, dignity, and power. This book serves as a testimony to acceptance of each other’s differences and to mutual respect.