The Freedom Within Us. East German Photography 1980-89

Background information

"Nearly thirty years after the fall of the 'Berlin Wall' (the Anniversary will be celebrated in 2019), what do we know about East German photography? This body of work - a territory, borne of a country that, since the 1920s has played a central role in the history of photography; a period spanning four decades, from 1949 to 1989 - should be brought to light.

Content

The photo compendium, 'The Freedom Within Us. East German Photography 1980-89', focusses on how, in an authoritarian state relying on the physical constraints of the body (denial of the individual in favour of the people, confinement within G.D.R. borders, normativity bodies regarded as tools of production and vectors of ideology, constant Stasi surveillance), photography was a medium where the individual asserts, resists and expresses its freedom. In the photo catalog 'The Freedom Within Us. East German Photography 1980-89' shown photographs represent the decade predating the fall of the Wall and were taken by forteen different photographers:

Contributing photographers

Tina BARA, Sibylle BERGEMANN, Kurt BUCHWALD, Lutz DAMMBECK, Christiane EISLER, Thomas FLORSCHÜTZ, York der KNOEFEL, Ute MAHLER, Eva MAHN, Sven MARQUARDT, Barbara METSELAAR-BERTHOLD, Helga PARIS, Manfred PAUL, Rudolf SCHÄFER, Gundula SCHULZE-ELDOWY, Gabriele STÖTZER, Ulrich WÜST." (© Koenig, 2019)

Photobooks by contributing photographers

• BARA, Tina
  BERGEMANN, Sibylle
  BUCHWALD, Kurt
  DAMMBECK, Lutz
  EISLER, Christiane
  FLORSCHÜTZ, Thomas
  KNOEFEL, York der
  MAHLER, Ute
  MAHN, Eva
  MARQUARDT, Sven
  METSELAAR-BERTHOLD, Barbara
  PARIS, Helga
  PAUL, Manfred
  SCHÄFER, Rudolf
  SCHULZE-ELDOWY, Gundula
  STÖTZER, Gabriele
  WÜST, Ulrich