Because I have always been James.

Photo from the work "Because I've always been James" by winner Jana Mai

Photo by Jana Mai

Photo: Jana Mai

Photo: Jana Mai

The search for our own identity is a central part of our lives. But how much of it is actually self-determined? Photographer Jana Mai’s work “Because I’ve Always Been James” is a sensitive exploration of the identity of James – a young trans man on his way to a self-determined self. Over the course of several months, she accompanies James, capturing the nuances of his coming-of-age in subtle and soulful moments.

Born in 1989 in a small settlement near the former Kazakh capital Almaty and raised in Germany. Fascinated and moved by the life stories of people on many of her travels in Europe, Africa and Asia, Jana Mai has since been concerned with questions of collective memory as well as the sense of home and belonging and the relationship between traditional culture and identity. In 2021, she was awarded the World Report Award in the Student Award category, and this year she will receive the STERN scholarship. Jana Mai works as a freelance portrait and documentary photographer for STERN, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, DER SPIEGEL and DIE ZEIT, among others.

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Awarded

Journey along the Yenisei River.

For her work “Hiding from Baba Yaga” Nanna Heitmann crosses Siberia, as her grandmother once did.

Awarded

From trying to photograph the wind.

Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in Europe. Hannes Jung examines the background in his work.

Awarded

“For a long time, parents in Iran believed that good girls would not dance in public.”

Shirin Abedi returns to her native Tehran for a report on ballerinas.

Awarded

Hospital on wheels.

In “Diagnosis”, Emile Ducke photographs the unusual health care in the Russian hinterland.