Voll das Leben!, Full of Life is a retrospective exhibition of work by German photographer Harald Hauswald featuring work from roughly the late 1970s to the mid 1990s. The exhibition features approximately 250 black & white images as well as information about Hauswald from his Stasi file which ran to over 1,000 pages.
Hauswald was born in 1954 in Radebeul, Est Germany and started an apprenticeship to become a photographer in 1970. He left his apprenticeship in 1971, having not taken a picture, and worked at various jobs including as a scaffolder and elevator mechanic. He returned to his apprenticehship, which he completed in 1976, and in 1978 moved to East Berlin. Between 1977 and 1989, around forty informants passed information to the Stasi and in 1985 a warrant was issued for Hauswald’s arrest on the grounds of anti-state activites, violating exchange controls, acting as an agent and passing on unclassified information. However, the warrant was not actioned and it remained in his Stasi file with the comment ‘Not advisable at the moment for political reasons’. (Lauer, 2014)
The exhibition contained work showing everyday life in East Germany in the years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, and later the eastern part of the re-unified Germany. The images on display were a combination of original and modern prints. Below is a small sample of some of Hauswald’s work.
I really enjoyed the exhibition, partly because it covered a period I could identify with, and could contrast what life was like in the UK at the time, but also because I liked Hauswald’s ability to compose images which made everyday, mundane events appear interesting. Although I do not often produce work in monochrome, I liked the black & white images as they seemed appropriate for the period that the exhibition covered. In the video below from 2018, Hauswald talks about why he chose to shoot in black & white (1min 08 secs) (Deutsche Welle,2018).
I think that in the context of the course, the exhibition high-lighted the importance of observation, the need to look constantly and to think about what you are shooting.
The exhibition runs until the 23rd January 2021 and I would thoroughly recommend it if visiting Berlin.
Lauer, S. (2014) Harald Hauswald’s Photos Shaped Our Generation’s Perception of East Germany. At: https://www.vice.com/en/article/jmb9jg/harald-hauswald-captures-erich-mielkes-hooligans-876 (Accessed 27/10/2020).
GDR photographer Harald Hauswald shows gray life in black and white | DW English – video dailymotion (s.d.) At: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ujxmx (Accessed 28/10/2020).
Documentary, Fact & Fiction 