The work of Helga Paris (*1938) occupies an outstanding position in German photography. Alternating between single images and series, it presents a pictorial record of German history encompassing more than 30 years. With her both strict and affectionate eye, Paris reports on life in the state that was founded as the Workers' and Peasants' State in 1949 in the aftermath of the Second World War and existed east of the Cold War divide until 1989.
Paris is interested in the commonplace and sometimes banal moments of interaction and togetherness: postures, looks, gestures, movements, surface textures and rooms that testify as much to the circumstances, stories and experiences of people and things as to the way of dealing with these circumstances.
Thanks to her special talent for photographing neglected streets and decaying houses with the same compassionate and affectionate rigour as pub customers and playing children, Paris endows people and objects with a special dignity.
Inka Schube
Biography
1938 born in Gollnow (Pomerania)
1956–1960 studied at the Fachschule für Bekleidung, Berlin Lecturer in costume design history; worked as commercial artist and photographic lab associate
1967 self-educational photographic activity
1972–1990 member of the Association of Visual Artists (Verband Bildender Künstler) of former German Democratic Republic
1996 member of the Berlin Academy of Arts
lives in Berlin
