Anne Lehmann-Brauns

Deserted spaces capture the interest of the photographer Anna LehmannBrauns (b. Berlin, 1968; lives and works in Berlin): deserted by people, these spaces nonetheless teem with images of collective and personal recollection. In pictures that suggest cool dispassion only at first glance, the artist, who studied with Joachim Brohm at the Academy of Visual Arts (HBG) in Leipzig, lends her motifs, which she captures using analogue technology and without artificial lighting, a mysterious and forlorn aura; some situations take on a positively surreal air. LehmannBrauns, who has traveled the world with her camera, was in Poland when she chanced upon a factory for funfair equipment and theme park decors on the premises of what used to be a German yarn factory in Silesia. It appeared to be abandoned, but is actually still in operation, though much of the inventory is slowly falling to pieces. Covered by a highly toxic layer of fiberglass dust, Laurel and Hardy stand surrounded by dwarves, angels, and beasts–they all form the crumbling backdrop for a peculiar chapter in Eastern Europe’s recent and contemporary history. The book presents selected works of this and of other series. With essays by Matthias Harder and Sabine Ziegenrucker.