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Personal statement by the photographer as background information
"When I saw Irene, I thought of Baudelaire. I remembered his remarks about the 'traits of woman'. They are vicious cries of rage about her depravity, shamelessness and beauty. For me, there is a longing behind them. Baudelaire did not want to believe in love. He was far too suspicious. He probably wanted to outwit it by attacking it wittily and sarcastically. But behind every remark I can feel the wound.
In Irene I recognize the model of his aggressive fantasy; she would have offered him enough targets for his love-hate relationship. Irene is not one of the women who reacts to this biting. She feels challenged.
The woman is natural, that's what it means to be disgusting. Even as a sensitive teenager, I liked that. This sentence is an exaggeration in the same way that Irene is an exaggeration, a voluptuous artificiality. She realizes that the difference between man and woman is not only recognizable, but exciting, erotic. She wants to be beautiful, to be a woman, to be free. She is direct and moody like a child. She loves flirtation more than marriage. Excitement more than harmony. Longing more than satisfaction. And distance more than touch. She lives her life according to these values.
Something as desirable as Irene rarely stays on the street for long, she is whisked away, either by directors (according to the motto: 'Baby, I'll make a star out of you!') or the requests of rich men. Well, in her case, they haven't had a chance yet. She needs the clack-clack of her spiked heels on the pavement like the beating of her heart. 'I'd rather be a station hooker than a call girl! Because she loves the street, the independence - and the luxury of being a star, every day, every night, chosen by no one other than herself." (Roswitha HECKE, from the introduction to 'Liebes Leben')
Content
The photographic volume 'Liebes Leben. Bilder mit Irene' by Roswitha HECKE consists of ninety-four black and white photographs documenting the everyday life of street prostitute Irene. The photographs have a reportage-like character and appear unposed. Size and arrangement change constantly, series are reproduced in the same format. As there is no information about where the photographs were taken, it can only be assumed that they were taken partly in Germany and partly in Italy (Rome?). As the book was first published in 1978, they were probably taken in the mid-1970s.
Additional information
The out-of-print photo volume 'Liebes Leben. Bilder mit Irene' by German photographer Roswitha HECKE has been published in 1978 in two editions: as Hardcover book with dust jacket by Rowohlt Verlag and as brochure bei Rogner & Bernard, offered by Zweitausendeins Stores.