Clarisse is clear about the UNSEEN purpose. ”I wanted to capture something raw. Something different. Not the perfect shots that you would see from the sports companies, but the real shots. More pictures with storytelling and emotions behind them.”

Creativity shackled by the drudgery of scripted work is the dichotomy of race photography. The awkward confluence — friction, perhaps — where the wants of the client collide with the need of the artist to be creatively satisfied. That's not to say that shooting a marathon is not taxing or hard — it is — just often formulaic. For Clarisse there’s recognition in that race day grind, but also an awareness that people need a place to go deeper.

UNSEEN is the Berlin B-roll. The unscripted — behind the scenes and between the scenes. For every marathon photo delivered that ticks boxes and fulfills a brief there are many more that stay on a hard-drive. Perhaps they were accidental — a glitch. Perhaps they were a moment of frivolity, stark against the rigid task of a request. Perhaps they were instinct or experimentation. However they happened, there's a reason — unique to the photographer — why they didn't get deleted. It's in these shots that we find the purpose of why they do it.

The UNSEEN project began as a conduit for bringing the raw — the real — Berlin Marathon to more eyes. To give under-represented photographers and creatives a platform to showcase how they see the race — not how it is requested to be seen. To celebrate the city and the people in a way that gave a home to their individual moments of expression. UNSEEN visitors can travel further into the race.

"There's a vulnerability in that moment that we aren't used to seeing in athletes often portrayed as heroes. And the beauty of the pacers photographed tying their shoes together in the same moment — the parallelity of that." The image mirrors the machine-like, almost metronomic, role in the race of these individuals.

Photography is everywhere — taken for granted and undervalued. Used and abused. It's easy to forget that photos with the power to draw us closer and make us think derive from a moment of talent. Far beyond the skill of knowing how to operate a camera. The skills of timing and vision are paramount — that ability to literally see life through a different lens. But to truly capture the unseen requires the skill of making connections, of building rapport, and fostering trust. Enabling athletes to feel comfortable in a vulnerable state, where our eyes wouldn't normally see them, is an innate power.

As UNSEEN develops so does its — and Clarisse's — sense of responsibility. "We have a photo of a pacemaker with a hole in his sock." For Clarisse that hole is acknowledgement that, as western runners we have incredible freedom and privilege to come in and out of these races, and think nothing of the security that we have when returning home. For a lot of professional runners — often female — that is not necessarily relatable. In recognition of this, the exhibition has expanded to include panel talks from professional athletes who experience the juxtaposition of hero status on the world stage alongside insecurity and the threat of abuse.

For the 50th Berlin Marathon, UNSEEN was offered the chance to be very much a part of the cultural program, placed in the heart of the city — the heart of the race — at the MOVE, alongside the Brandenburg Gates. “I had to do it — it’s possibly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — but I wanted the gallery to move forward and make it about inclusion and diversity. A chance to showcase athletes with disabilities as well as those from the LGBTQIA+ running communities in Berlin. For example, last year, Tigst Assefa broke the world record here in Berlin, but at that race Catherine Debrunner also set a new record in the wheelchair. I knew 16 photographers who were shooting the race and only one had a photo of Catherine.” Correcting disparities like this, alongside working with local running communities helping to bring people together and raise the profile of diversity, are central to the 2024 UNSEEN project.

Clarisse is attentive to the power of curation and the role it can play in bringing people together. Her selection at UNSEEN calls upon talent from within the community to create a visually striking gallery that draws people in to the cause. There’s skill in being able to do that — to define a gallery with impact requires a special eye. In the same way, to hold a camera does not furnish an immediate ability to produce art. Certainly not that every eye — or lens — is capable of visualizing. It's unfair to view the process so simplistically. We all see things differently and you can't choreograph real life. Therein, alluring composition comes from being able to see the missing frames, independent of planning. And through UNSEEN, that freedom to express opens the door for subjectivity and conversation — it's how we learn. Rather than content magnetizing to a common theme in the center, there must be a place to flow outwards and try new things in order to raise awareness. Homogenization of demands has the unfortunate power to erode creativity.

Alongside the historical celebration of the race, the 2024 UNSEEN gallery at the MOVE showcases two core themes — Inclusion and Diversity. Those not able to visit the gallery in-person can also read the magazine at UNSEEN x BERLIN-MARATHON: BMW BERLIN-MARATHON 50th Anniversary .