Berlin by Mitch Epstein

Mitch Epstein is a fine art photographer based out of New York, born and raised in Holyoke Massachusetts. In the 70’s he refined the art of color photography and paved the way for many young artists. His photographs are in museums such as the MOMA, The MET, The Whitney Museum of Modern art, The Tate Modern in London, and etc. He’s won numerous awards such as a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003, and has published ten books. The book I’m focusing on is ‘Berlin’. In 2008, Mitch Epstein won the Berlin Prize in Arts and Letters and was awarded a six-month residency at the American Academy in Berlin. He examined Berlin’s famously tormented landscape and history by photographing the post war concrete remnants as they integrate with contemporary life. He shows stunning sights such as Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust memorials juxtaposed with images of abandoned towns and parks, and cityscapes with no humans. These photographs show the mark of humans left on the natural world, and how it was been changed and distorted. In one image it shows a godlike sculpture fighting with another man, showing the tension between the people who once inhabited these areas. Similarly he shows elephants grazing in Litchenberg looking for signs of food. However he seems to have stopped the elephants in time making them look as godly statues similar to the other photo of the sculpture. He juxtaposes militarized with non-militarized places as well as sacred places and non sacred places. This brings an up an interesting dialogue about what life would be like at this time in a post war era and how it seemingly has killed off everything. However the elephants show signs of nature once again taking over which would most likely happen after a place of war has been devastated and left to ruin.
By Billy Sears