Dusk

Following Axel Hoedt’s Once A Year (2014), Dusk continues the photographer’s journey through southwestern Germany, and extends it into Austria and Switzerland. Hoedt undermines traditional (and often clichéd) representations of carnival: we see no paraders somersaulting before the crowds, no embarrassing scenes of drunken debauchery. Instead, Hoedt photographs the revelers in earnest poses, static against a bright background, in a forest or next to rural buildings, juxtaposing classic studio photography, Polaroid snapshots and still-life imagery. Often installing the quaint colorful masks within an unforgiving winter environment, Hoedt reminds us of what carnival once used to be: a final celebration before the dawning of hard times.