The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall

My photography project, “The Absence and Presence of the Berlin Wall,” focuses on Germany’s reunification post-1990. Germany has one political and economic system, but new divisions and hostilities emerged during reunification. I probed those divisions with photography and guided interviews by cycling along the Berlin Wall Trail between August 2021 and March 2022 during my artist residency at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien. I photographed three elements (architecture, nature, and people) that allowed me to locate spaces where the remnants of the Wall were still present, spaces where the physical division of the Wall had ceased to exist, and spaces where the mental construct of the Wall continued to persist.

I portrayed and interviewed twenty-five people living and working along the Wall Trail in the states of Berlin and Brandenburg. I found the interviewees through personal contacts, by talking to the residents while taking photos, and through organizations. Some interviewees are directors and staff of organizations that deal with the commemoration of the Berlin Wall, such as the Berlin Wall Foundation.

The project was presented in a solo exhibition at the Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin, Germany, from February 25 – March 20, 2022. I am now working on a book.