Jan Lehner — A Minor Thought
A Minor Thought by Jan Lehner (b. 1983, German) contains a cumulation of images taken during constrained journeys; solely allowing a fleeting impression of the respective destinations — and at times even of Lehner’s habitual environment in London.
The resulting works, often made as visual notes, presently decontextualised and abstract, are an attempt to offer a glimpse into these moments’ sentiment, rather than how they appeared.
Yield by Jan Lehner
Jan Lehner’s first book Yield consists of pictures that were taken on a day to day basis; often in passing and without a defined purpose or final format in mind. And yet, they all share a common underlying thread. The five or six years they span marked a period of great personal changes and challenges for Lehner—the obvious and universal one: a pandemic sweeping the planet, stopping everything in its tracks; others of a much more intimate nature, such as the birth of a child, the illness and loss of a parent, and personal hardships and their recovery.
While none of this is spelled out explicitly in Yield, grief, love, fear, hope, despair, and their related nuances all find their echoes layered in images that often represent small moments of respite during a measure of turbulence.
It is in this backdrop that the book takes its title with its dual meaning: that to surrender in the face of overwhelming challenges often allows one to emerge holding, and knowing, something new.
Jan Lehner — A Minor Thought
A Minor Thought by Jan Lehner (b. 1983, German) contains a cumulation of images taken during constrained journeys; solely allowing a fleeting impression of the respective destinations — and at times even of Lehner’s habitual environment in London.
The resulting works, often made as visual notes, presently decontextualised and abstract, are an attempt to offer a glimpse into these moments’ sentiment, rather than how they appeared.
Jan Lehner — Yield
Jan Lehner’s (b. 1983, German) first book Yield consists of pictures that were taken on a day to day basis; often in passing and without a defined purpose or final format in mind. And yet, they all share a common underlying thread. The five or six years they span marked a period of great personal changes and challenges for Lehner—the obvious and universal one: a pandemic sweeping the planet, stopping everything in its tracks; others of a much more intimate nature, such as the birth of a child, the illness and loss of a parent, and personal hardships and their recovery.
While none of this is spelled out explicitly in Yield, grief, love, fear, hope, despair, and their related nuances all find their echoes layered in images that often represent small moments of respite during a measure of turbulence.
It is in this backdrop that the book takes its title with its dual meaning: that to surrender in the face of overwhelming challenges often allows one to emerge holding, and knowing, something new.
The book contains a poem, in German, written by writer and poet Theresa Patzschke (b. 1987, German), with an English translation.
5 years today, what a ride. still wild, still kind, still stubborn as all hell. still would not want to change a thing about you, ever. (apart from maybe eating a piece of lettuce every now and then.) 🖤
4 years. learning how to ride a bike, how to say your first german sentence and your first flemish one. how to run faster, kick harder, climb higher. learning how to pee in the bath while balancing on the edge of the tub. learning how to say farewell to Oma, and how to comfort Opa. learning how to build lego and how to laugh and scream a bit louder than before. learning how to hug as hard as you can.
