Heimat
The series Heimat is influenced by the historical development of the term Heimat itself. Heimat is a German word that loosely translates to “Homeland”, but refers much more to a mindset than to an area of land. What is most interesting is that other cultures never gave the word Heimat such a strong importance as the Germans did.
Today the word has a different meaning to people than it had a century ago. The meaning might have evolved, but the longing for a safe and well-known place remains the same. Heimat is usually only of much importance if the danger arises it might be lost to us. In an expanding and ever more present world the concept of Heimat and the search for it, will remain contemporary as ever. The cliché of an idyllic, countryside Heimat has been replaced by a utopian and worldly international homeland, where everybody has a place. In the beginning of my research I was mostly preoccupied with the cliché-like images that are connected to the term Heimat and the recurring thematic in the movies and the novels of that genre.
Nowadays we do not necessarily refer to a location when Heimat is concerned. The current homeland is much more abstract, since we are not as much bound to a location anymore. People use the word Heimat to describe a center-point of personal life. In the series Heimat I am trying to discover my own homeland, with all its clichés and ambiguities. But there is also room for a quiet, almost poetic Heimat in the works of the series.
Stromhaus
2007, from the photo series Heimat, black and white instant film combined with a negative.
From 2003 until 2008 I traveled from the north to the south of Germany and back again. While traveling I passed by this awesome typical German ‚power house‘. On the country side of Germany one can still find these tall houses.
Alpen
2008, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
A photograph of a photograph. For the photo Alpen I bought a wallpaper with a cliche landscape of the Alps in Switzerland. I put it on the wall and took another photo.
Sturm
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photograph.
After a storm called Kyrill in 2008 a lot of landscape changes took place in my hometown Siegen.
Siegen
2009, from the photo series Heimat, black and white reversal paper.
The photograph is taken with a cargo container that has been transformed into a camera obscura in 2008. The container camera traveled through four cities in West-Germany.
Polterabend
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photograph.
Polterabend is an ancient practice that is hold before a wedding. People throw porcelain on the ground in front of the woman’s house. It’s an old tradition and it is done to bring luck into the marriage.
Schlafendes Haus
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
At my hometown people always keep their windows shuttered. Sometimes I ask myself why the architects don’t start building houses without any windows, would be much cheaper!
WM
2006, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
Someone dropped the colors of the German flag on the ground near the subway station Landungsbrücken in Hamburg.
Wald
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
The view of the woods near my parents place on a cold November morning.
Wäscheleine
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white instant film combined with a negative.
Clothesline in the garden of my apartment in Hamburg.
Untitled
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photo, made with a self-made 4×5 inch Pinhole Camera.
The photo is taken with a pinhole camera on a mountain top of the woods near my parents place.
Trupbach
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
Dramatic landscape out of my parents guestroom, that is now used by myself once in a while.
Tannenwald
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photo, made with a self-made 4×5 inch Pinhole Camera.
After an intense winter in the woods of my hometown a lot of trees where damaged and got cut down.
Spielplatz
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photograph.
A playground at my hometown where I never saw any children playing, but the place is always clean and neat. There is even a garbage bag with a new plastic bag in it.
Fernsehen
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
A house near my parents place that has a long history of occupation. Long time ago there was a butcher located in the building, it was a council house when I took the photo and now it is torn down and a corrugated-iron shack is standing on its place.
Ratzebuschstasse
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photograph.
Right next to my birth house is this playground. A full concrete place with some holes filled with sand, cat and dog shit. It was fun back there.
Österreich
2007, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photograph.
Landscape of the Alps in Austria.
No.104
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
The view from the balcony of my parents house. A view to the boarder of their property.
Lützel
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
Dramatic landscape along a famous hiking place near my hometown.
Schutzkette
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
People in my hometown are always scared that someone can touch their property.
Hütte
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photo, made with a self-made 4×5 inch Pinhole Camera.
My grandparents cottage in the woods of my hometown.
Gasstrasse
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photo, made with a self-made 4×5 inch Pinhole Camera.
An historical place in Hamburg-Altona. Now office buildings growing out of the ground and strange no mans land appears.
Garage
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
Property is an important issue in Germany. People in my hometown are always scared that someone can touch their own ground in any way.
Eichenerstrasse
2008, from the photo series Heimat, black and white photograph.
A concrete house in a concrete street.
Buberg
2007, from the photo series Heimat, color photograph.
The Bubergstrasse is the street where I lived with my parents from 1990 until 1999. A narrow street with poor pavement and small bourgeois houses. There is only one spot that isn’t cultivated in this street.
Stromhaus
2007, from the photo series Heimat, black and white instant film combined with a negative, detail.
