image by
August Sander

Explosionsopfer. ca. 1930
Victim of an explosion

The catastrophies I experienced as a kid,
I believed to be my purely personal ones.

Other children, I thought,
didn´t have this big shameful family secret
I had to hide.

A secret that made me lonesome.
Secrets make you lonesome.

Meanwhile I realized,
that desasters are an integral part of life.

For the last 5 years I had jobs
where I tried to help those,
whose lives have come to a dead end street.

Sometimes its hard for me
to forget about all that suffering,
I have seen,
and still see,
week after week.

So my interest,
in my photographic work,
(it´s invisible yet)
turned after a period of hope,
back to suffering and pain.

And this might be the reason,
why I was captivated
by August Sanders photographs
of blind children
and this burned woman.

Life is about catastrophes.
Some of us
can´t hide this fact.

It´s inscribed
on their bodies,
visible for everyone.