These portraits from Jessica Backhaus are simply beautiful

We’ve featured Jessica Backhaus’ images before and while this series Jesus and the Cherries isn’t one of her most recent projects being shot back in 2004, it still feels relevant in the type of work we’re seeing more and more of these days. The difference being is Jessica has been capturing people, objects and places in this style for more than a decade now so there’s a real authenticity to her work.

I just love the portraits in this series as the young faces contrast with the antiquated feel of the small, German town they’re living in. This disparity is especially noticeable when we see glimmers of Americana in the children’s clothes, for instance a Micky Mouse t-shirt or a New York cityscape swimming costume.

The portraits are interspersed with small, personal moments which really make the series shine. The image of a sink with peeled carrots balancing on top of each other is fantastic but my favourite has to be the plates with morsels of food still clinging to them and the half-drank glasses of juice. This series is just a small snippet of why Jessica is regarded as one of the most distinguished voices in contemporary German photography today.