Critical art as a reflection of society

I was always freelance. That was because I was a somewhat unpopular student in 1983 because I was dealing with certain topics – punks and youth work camps. At the HGB [Leipzig Academy of Visual Arts] it was common practice at the time for students, graduates, to always receive job offers from industrial companies or cultural institutions where they then worked as photographers. But nobody really wanted me because I was a bit opportunistic. And so I took an additional course at the university: in 1985 with Emil Richter at the “Institute for Youth Research” and then I withdrew a bit because my two daughters came in 1985 and 1987…

My professional interests are probably also connected to my family. My father was also a photographer, so I am a photographer. I still love the job to this day and I still find the engagement and the possibilities that this medium offers so exciting. That applies to the time when I was working analogue, but up until today I am working digitally. But back then I really did exhaust everything that was somehow connected to this medium. The most important projects came about back then because I really enjoyed dealing with young people – who were only slightly younger than me. That’s why I chose these topics, like the punks back then, but also other youth and fringe groups. Or the situation in a youth work camp, which I documented photographically. All of these topics arose out of interest, because I simply wanted to know how these young people live, how are they doing? In the youth work camp, the people I was allowed to visit were girls: How are the girls doing in such an institution? These things were exciting for me, I wanted to document them photographically – and I wanted to know that too. […]

The post-reunification period was actually the most exciting time for me – photographically speaking, because you could get into everything. There were no boundaries like there are today or like there were before. During this time, I could go out and put on a hat or an apron when I was in a company or something else. I actually felt like the world was mine and I could photograph anything. The fact that I was lucky enough to have colleagues from the old federal states come and offer us the opportunity to set up a joint agency and work for influential magazines like Spiegel, Stern – all the ones that existed back then – the TAZ, was sensational for me and I really enjoyed that for the first few years. That changed again over the years because everything has several sides, of course, but the post-reunification period was an exciting time in terms of work.