Sara-Christin Richter

WALTER AND ULLI

WALTER AND ULLI

Sara-Christin Richter

This story about an unusual friendship is set in New York City. The old watchmaker Walter lives a happy but very quiet life with his family. Life simply ambles along, and Walter does not believe in miracles – until one day. And that’s the day the crocodile on Walter’s living room wall starts to talk. The depressed and very bored but gentle reptile convinces Walter to go on a journey through New York, while listening to all the different sounds and whispers of the city. Hidden in a stroller, Walter takes Ulli to different neighbourhoods, and together they discover the city.

SARA-CHRISTIN RICHTER is an Illustrator from Hamburg, Germany. Before doing Illustration she trained as an art teacher and worked at different schools with children of all ages. Her extensive experience with children’s playfulness, joy and fantasy now inspire her own storytelling. From 2015-2016, Sara-Christin Richter studied at The New School in New York, which exposed her to a vibrant art and illustration scene.

Sara-Christen has been studying Illustration at HAW Hamburg since 2017. She has been interested in puppet theatre and the making of puppets and marionettes since early childhood, making puppet-illustration her favourite form of illustration, although she loves to paint too. She was invited for an Artist Residency in Los Angeles in 2019, where she currently works and lives at the farm of German children’s book author Cornelia Funke. Cornelia Funke and Sara are presently working on a project together. www.sarachristinrichter.com

JURY REPORT Crafted with love for detail, the figures and constructed scenery are vivid and lively in the artfully illuminated photographs. The old watchmaker Walter has a striking facial expression as he listens attentively to the sound from the wall.

The sophisticated use of lighting infuses the constructed New York cityscape with the atmosphere of a big city. The story of the friendship between Walter and the crocodile also plays with two- and three-dimensionality: the flat image of the crocodile comes to life and emerges from the wall.