BIALOBRZESKI, Peter - Heimat

"Peter BIALOBRZESKI (b. 1961) enchanted many viewers with his 2004 book 'Neon Tigers' (italian version: 'Tigri di luce'), which was chosen as one of the Best-Designed German Books of that year and was also awarded the German Photography Book Prize.

After exploring the looming skyscrapers of Asian megacities, BIALOBRZESKI spent over two years traveling through Germany. 'Heimat', which is German for 'homeland,' is the fascinating result of his journey. For Germans 'Heimat' is a rather difficult term which embodies conflicting tendencies: destiny or coincidence, sentimental kitsch for pensioners and revisionists, and lost paradise or childhood trauma.

In BIALOBRZESKI's words, 'Having a home means having roots, which is not the same as being rooted to the spot.'

And since he is more interested in images than in places, 'Heimat 'is 'not a book about Germany as homeland per se.' Rather, it creates a fixed image of 'a personalized bit of visual and cultural history.' BIALOBRZESKI's photographs act as projection surfaces for modern man's yearning for nature-an homage to German Romanticism and at the same time bow to the works of contemporary American Color Photographers." (publisher's note, © Hatje Cantz, 2006)