Elena Helfrecht
‘Unternächte’
by Elena Helfrecht, published by Void.
“Faced with a time of disasters and profound upheaval, we invent stories and rituals to navigate chaos and uncertainty.”
Elena Helfrecht
Unternächte
‘Unternächte’ takes its name from what Elena Helfrecht’s grandmother and great-grandmother in Bavaria called the nights between Winter Solstice and Epiphany, a liminal period known more widely as the Twelve Nights of Christmas. When the old year has not quite ended and the new one has not yet begun, the boundary between the living and the dead is said to blur as spirits descend into the mortal realm.
Helfrecht grew up with the customs and stories of this time. Since 2018, the Bavarian photographer has been returning to her birthplace in the Fichtel Mountains to revisit the eerie, mystical atmosphere of these nights and interrogate the folklore she inherited. Her black-and-white photographs examine and reinterpret the tales and traditions passed down through generations of women in her family, who sought guidance and a sense of control on the uncertain path ahead.
“Myths make things explainable that are otherwise not rationally comprehensible, such as death and the question of the afterlife. Customs convey a sense of meaning and control over things we have little influence over.”
Elena Helfrecht
Though emerging from autobiography, ‘Unternächte’ reaches beyond family stories. Threshold moments like the Twelve Nights, an ending with no clear beginning in sight, have always carried a collective unease. Today, political rifts, environmental crises, and technological disorientation echo that same in-between feeling. As we grasp for new rituals and beliefs to feel secure in a fragmented world, ‘Unternächte’ reveals how the artist’s foremothers drew on these customs, resonating with a much wider cultural moment.
Through photography, Helfrecht explores how we turn to lore when the ground feels unsteady. She stages, re-stages, and reimagines family story and local tradition until the lines between memory and invention, between comfort and threat, blur. Her imagery is rooted in the tradition of folk horror, where the same beliefs that unite a community can, under pressure, turn against those within it just as easily as those outside it. The same fire that keeps a house warm can burn it down.
‘Unternächte' itself mirrors this ambiguity. Rather than a photographic survey, 'Unternächte’ is designed to evoke an old collection of fairy tales, something to return to and retell. Meaning shifts with every reading. Like the stories it draws on, passed from woman to woman, it is a tale that grows with us, carrying both comfort and warning.
Limited Edition Metallic Gold Riso Print
Signed & Numbered • Edition of 50
The Special Edition
Limited edition of 10
For full information, click here.
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Limited edition of 10 copies
With Archival Pigment Prints numbered and signed by Elena Helfrecht
Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 g/m²
Print dimension: 15,9 × 22,9 cm (6.25 × 9 in)
Edition of 10 + 2 AP
+ Certificate of Authenticity
It accompanies a copy of the book ‘Unternächte’ with a special Riso-printed obi
! This Special Edition’s price will increase as the edition sells through !
!! Shipping expected in mid-Nov ‘26 * Other items purchased with this will be shipped at the same time !!
Limited to just 10 copies, the 'Unternächte' Special Edition pairs the book with a finely produced Archival Pigment print by Elena Helfrecht, numbered and signed by the artist. The print is made on Hahnemühle Photo Rag (308 g/m²), a soft, tactile cotton paper, and measures 15 x 21 cm (5.6 x 8.3 in). The edition runs to 10 prints plus 2 artist's proofs (APs). The book is comes with a distinctive Riso-printed obi, and each copy comes with a certificate of authenticity issued by Void.
Unternächte
17,1 × 24,4 cm
128 pages
1000 copies
Burnt Hardcover
ISBN 978-618-5479-52-7
Special Edition
Limited edition of 10 copies
With Archival Pigment Prints numbered and signed by Elena Helfrecht
Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308 g/m²
Print dimension: 15.9 × 22.9 cm (6.25 × 9 in)
Edition of 10 + 2 AP
+ Certificate of Authenticity
Elena Helfrecht
Elena Helfrecht (b. 1992) is a German visual artist known for her dreamlike and surreal photographic works. After three years in London, where she studied photography at the Royal College of Art, she now lives and works in the forests of Bavaria. Her practice revolves around phenomena of consciousness, combining individual experiences with collective history. Her work has been exhibited at South London Gallery (UK), Galleria Civica Cavour (IT), The Benaki Museum (GR), Peckham 24 (UK), Villa Kebbel (DE), and Photo Vogue Festival (IT), among others. She is a recipient of the BJP International Photo Award, a Sony World Photo Award, the Camera Work Award, and the AOP Student Award. She was also named one of the Bloomberg New Contemporaries and nominated for the FOAM Paul Huf Award. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, including The New Yorker, Granta, Die ZEIT, the Financial Times, the Guardian, and the British Journal of Photography.
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✳︎ Runner-up – OD Photo Prize 2026
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GREECE, Void
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Photograph: Elena Helfrecht
Design: João Linneu, Myrto Steirou
Edit: Elena Helfrecht, João Linneu, Myrto Steirou
Printing: Jelgavas tipogrāfija
Binding: Jelgavas tipogrāfija
Burning: Void
Language: English, German
Font: Hamlet Tertia 18 designed by Edward Johnston (Digitized by Alexis Faudot and Rafael Ribas), Boomerang Regular by Harold’s Fonts
Elena Helfrecht © for the photographs
Void © for this edition
For full information, click here.
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17,1 × 24,4 cm
128 pages
Burnt Hardcover
ISBN 978-618-5479-52-7