ABOUT

“Back then, Germany was simply the place where certain fault lines were the most visible after the war. That’s what convinced me not to do a book about France or Italy or some other pleasant subject, but to go to precisely where oppositions were exacerbated and beginning to clash.”

This is the reasoning Rene Burri gave for his decision to start photographing in Germany, while in his early twenties. Born to a German mother and a Swiss father, Burri’s exploration of Germany revealed a nation in flux: its middle-aged and elderly citizens in some cases scarred by war, its youth seemingly excitable and vibrant. These societal divisions are mirrored by the concurrent erection and expansion of physical barriers – the Berlin Wall, and associated fortifications, and checkpoints. Throughout the work a palpable military presence jars with images of quaint – almost folksy – domesticity, and hip, metropolitan youth. It is a portrait of a people in the throes of an identity crisis on a national scale.