Bastienne Schmidt: Shadowhome

by Bastienne Schmidt (Photographer), Hanns Zischler

Germany is no easy country to sum up in 80 images. Yet, photographer Bastienne Schmidt--who has been living in New York since 1988--has done just that. Presented here is her trip with a camera through the country of her birth. The award-winning artist has discovered a severe, dark, and sometimes bizarre, place; it all looks somewhat strange and at the same time familiar through her lens. The photographs, which have a great suggestive power, turn the completely ordinary into a seemingly strange and different world. With portraits of people and places that exude a certain distance, unusual perspectives (crisp twin beds with peaked pillows) and extraordinary details (a soccer field seen through the net of the goal), Schmidt takes the viewer on a provocative journey through Germany's past and present. ShadowHome is simultaneously a tribute and a hard, critical and loving look at a country--and what it means to return home.

Hardcover

First published March 1, 2005