All This Love

• Prize
  Gold in People/Portrait
• Photographer
  Mirja Maria Thiel

The aim of this series is to broaden the social discourse about old age. Today, we are so used to discussing complex sets of challenges concerning the security of the pension system, the dramatic rise of dementia diseases, and the nursing crisis. We even talk about leisure culture and educational opportunities for the so-called silver ager, whereas eroticism and sexuality in high age couples are utterly underrepresented or even tabooed in the public mind. But endless variations of love, desire and eroticism build a universal value that is lived by humankind all over the world at all ages.

Mirja Maria Thiel, born in Hamburg 1971, holds a Master of Arts in American, English and German Literature and Linguistics. 2014-2019 Mirja studied „Photojournalism and Documentary Photography“ at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany. She also took photography workshops with Darcy Padilla, Rob Hornstra, and Vanessa Winship. Mirja concentrates on personal longterm projects situated in her neighbourhood that deal with social issues and personal storys of universal human interest. She lives with her husband and their three children close to Bremen in northern Germany.