Die Nutzhölzer
A foreboding narrative in the vein of Deutsche Märchen literature, Jeffrey Ladd’s most recent body of work Die Nutzhölzer grew out of extended projects photographing in the Black Forest area combined with personal family photographs centered around his twin daughters. The work follows a narrative structure loosely alluding to the stories from the Brothers Grimm and Heinrich Hoffmann where the darker forces of nature challenge the innocence of childhood.
As Ladd’s real children are entering the age where they become aware of the darker side of the world, contemporary life is full of real dangers from Coronavirus, war, racism, and a breakdown of civility in politics. In Ladd’s photographs, his use of black and white creates a mood and tension between the real and fantasy, a metaphor for his reaction to the current state of the world.