Yana Wernicke
Yana Wernicke is a German photographer based in a small town near Frankfurt. Yana’s book Companions is a radical act of kindness, quietly celebrating interspecies bonds. The German book title is Weggefährten — this wonderful, slightly old-fashioned German word translates into ‘those who walk the path together’ — and Wernicke herself is a Weggefährte, too, as she follows the path of her subjects, capturing moments of tenderness, consciousness and joy.
Bodies comfortably leaning into each other, mutual respect, play — Yana proves that traditional livestock (that word!) can be our companions just as much as a cat or a dog.
The book — carefully designed, produced, and published by Loose Joints in 2023 — contains 52 tritone plates, and a silkscreened hardcover.