Targets
Herlinde Koelbl
This event has concluded
Dates:
Entry Fee:
Free
Herlinde Koelbl is one of the most prominent political photographers in Germany. Her photos addressing burning issues of the time have made her known worldwide; recently, for example, the refugee dramas in the Middle East and the Mediterranean; or her portraits of well-known politicians, in whose faces she has for decades documented the “Traces of Power”. They are always engaged and thoughtful confrontations with political and social issues, where Koelbl combines a journalistic documentary approach with high artistic standards in a way uniquely her own.
The project “Targets” is a particularly impressive example of this: for eight years Koelbl travelled around the world, and in a total of thirty countries made photographs of the military targets used in the training of soldiers. How is the enemy, who is later to be killed, portrayed? Is he an abstract figure or does he have a face? Do the targets exhibit cultural differences? Have the images representing the enemy changed?
Who is the enemy? As viewed from which side? Everyone considers himself to be on the right side. In the reality of war, the soldiers themselves are always ultimately the target.
For Koelbl it was thus obvious that beside the mechanical targets are portraits of the soldiers – the living targets.
Artist talks:
Thu 4 May 6pm, Goethe Institut, 90 Ocean Street, Woollahra: Koelbl will present her series “Traces of Power” including a portrait series of Angela Merkel (1991-2016)
Sat 6 May 1pm, Festival Hub Paddington, Paddington Town Hall, Q & A with Herlinde followed at 2pm by a viewing of her exhibition at Paddington Reservoir Gardens
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