Phenotype – Jochen Lempert

“Phenotype’ by Jochen Lempert is the first comprehensive monograph on the biologist who later worked as a photographer in the mid 20th century. A delicate volume, which highlights the similarities between the human and animal spheres in a minimalist and dreamlike sequence that manages to transform structures and subjects into artistic documents belonging to our world. Lempert chooses to present his work by composing it mostly in groups and paying special attention to both the external characteristics and the internal dynamics of his images, a practice inherited from his job in biology. Reviewing more than twenty years of work, ‘Phenotype’ goes beyond the concept of simply documenting the beauty we are surrounded by, focusing on the relationship between the shots and placing them, in their entirety, as systems for organising the information of suggestive visual data. A role in which meaning and aesthetics play the same role.