Sacrifice I

It´s a cold September morning in 2012 when this adventure with Shermin Langhoff and Sesede Terzyan happens. When we arrived at the farm in Brandenburg outside Berlin, I cannot believe what I see: a cherry tree in front of the slaughterhouse, a large rock, and an endless field. Jackpot. A man with a big bucket and the just-slaughtered lamb shows up: it gets serious. There is a lot of tension in Sesede’s face, the heavy lamb keeps falling down off her lap, but Shermin gets behind Sesede and helps her hold the lamb from the back while saying prayers in Turkish. The first flies come: I start photographing. Suddenly magic happens: the wind starts blowing her hair, the sun comes out for a second, I hear the holy sound of angels and we all feel, that the lamb’s soul left the body in the moment I made this shot. Immediately after, the animal turns cold. On the way back we all feel humbled by life. It’s a spiritual moment that I will never forget.