Ken Duken

Ken was born in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1979 and was taken to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Bavaria) by his parents in 1981 at the age of two, without being asked. Without the lack of roots of at least three generations, which would have been imperative for acceptance of the natives in an idyllic mountain paradise, he grew up relatively reclusive and introverted. The feeling of homelessness burned itself into him. He found refuge under his mother’s dressing table in the theatre, where he spent most of his childhood. It wasn’t long before the stage completely captivated the initially shy observer. For Ken, it was the epitome of freedom. His already boundless imagination found plenty of fertile ground in the stories performed in the theatre, and it was clear to him early on that he wanted to tell those same stories for the rest of his life, in whatever form they took.
A few schools and countless broken bones later, every mother’s nightmare was drawn to the camera at eighteen. With his move to Berlin and his first directorial work a few years later, the attentive, perhaps no longer quite so quiet and shy observer found his home.

© picture: Mathias Bothor / photoselection