Thomas Florschuetz

The black and white photographs in this series were taken in East Berlin from 1982-1985. Most of them on May 1, 1985. The subjects are city views of Prenzlauer Berg, in which train stations, streets, facades, backyards as well as people are captured. These are archival inkjet prints measuring 34 x 49.4 cm.

In addition to enhancing the nostalgic effect of the images, the reason for using black and white material is the almost nonexistent availability of color films at the time. There were no independent laboratories for color film development in the GDR. In contrast, working with black and white material was affordable, available, and artistically and technically viable and not controlled in terms of content. The series was created three years before Florschuetz's departure from the GDR, which also marked the beginning of his use of color films.