Election campaigns 1984-1987
Inspired by the work of Roland Barthes, C.W. Morris and Umberto Eco on semiotics, I began to work with photography on political issues in the mass media. At that time, the image of the politician in the publishing German media was rather stereotypical and designed for easy recognition.
Equipped with my semiotic concept "Politicians", I started the attempt to track down further realities. My goal was to try out a different approach in order to get new photographs for political reporting. The photographs should allow a more direct and unknown view of politicians and emphasize the visibility of a staging of a rally.
At various political election events, I was able to experiment with photojournalistic working methods and combine them with my experience in theatre photography. The first works of these years were the beginning of the long-term project Wahl Kampf Ritual, which I still photograph today.
In the meantime, the series includes nine German federal election campaigns and also indirectly describes the changes within German society over the last 30 years.
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L´Europeo 11/2012 p.102, Chancellor Helmut Kohl 1984 in Cologne, Germany.