Baku, February 6, AZERTAC

The renowned photographer Philipp Rathmer presented a selection of his Five Roads Back Home photographic series in the historic Rheinbahn depot. The exhibition is part of the Jump #04: RAW – The Decisive Moment, organised by the Berufsverband Freie Fotografen und Filmgestalter e.V. (BFF).

Mr Rathmer is a photographer in demand in the international fashion, lifestyle and advertising industries. He has photographed myriad celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Christoph Waltz, Juliette Lewis, Jogi Löw, Luciano Pavarotti, Daniel Brühl, Vanessa Mae, Jay-Z, Michael Schumacher and many others. His photography is notable for its special lighting effects and the way in which he captures the essence of each personality.

His work is highly diverse, an example being the Five Roads Back Home project, organised in collaboration with The European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS). This series shows 50 portraits of internally displaced persons (IDPs), who are the ongoing victims of the Armenian–Azerbaijani conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

This conflict raged from 1988–94 over Azerbaijani territory in the west of the country populated by both Azerbaijanis and ethnic Armenians. However, the history of this dispute stretches back for centuries. Due to this one-sided illegal invasion, Armenia still occupies Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding provinces, equating to approximately 20 per cent of Azerbaijani territory, with an estimated one million Azerbaijani refugees and IDPs being expelled from their homes. The Nagorno-Karabakh region is universally recognised by the international community as forming part of Azerbaijani sovereign territory. The UN Security Council condemned the ongoing occupation in four resolutions, all of which have called for the immediate withdrawal of Armenian forces.

TEAS is a UK-registered pan-European organisation dedicated to raising awareness of Azerbaijan and fostering closer economic, political and cultural links between that country and the nations of Europe.

The BFF Jump #04 exhibition tries to solve the question as to how the special moment, the look, and the photographic image shapes and shows photographic material of various forms, contents and origins. The exhibition showcases the work of 64 BFF photographers.