1ère édition numérotée sur 500 exemplaires.
Patrick Bienert explorait des idées autour de concepts de cultures et d’identité fondés sur l’héritage de la photographie de rue et documentaire.
Dans « East End of Europe », le photographe allemand Patrick Bienert se rend en Géorgie et dans sa capitale, Tbilissi, à la recherche de son identité. Située au point où l’Europe rencontre l’Asie, cette région captivante possède une histoire riche et unique, mais semble encore quelque peu perdue dans le présent. Ici, en marge de l’Europe, l’ère soviétique projette encore une longue ombre. Les visages redoutables que Bienert rencontre sont pleins d’orgueil et de beauté archaïque, mais tout comportement et regard semble hanté par une fugace futilité de sens. L’effritement des monuments soviétiques en béton et des blocs d’habitation est contrasté avec des portraits de jeunes femmes et de jeunes, des paysages accidentés et des visages âgés ; photos en n.b. et en couleurs.
500 numbered and limited edition.
“How heavy is Europe? How heavy is the burden of History? How difficult will the future be?
These are the questions posed by Patrick Bienert’s photographs. He is a inconspicuous man and observer, who almost disappears behind his camera, so that the energy of the model and the surroundings flow not towards him, but towards his camera lens. Bienert has always travelled around Georgia, a remote country on the fringes of Europe, in search of its identity. A country that, for all its rich and unique History, still seems somewhat lost in the present.
The formidable faces Patrick Bienert found there are full of pride and archaic beauty, yet every cheek appears as if brushed by a breeze of futility. As Hartmut Böhme once wrote, “Time works as forgetting against remembering”, and we can see how Bienert is looking to overcome Böhme’s philosophy, capturing the preciousness of the moment — so that it doesn’t get lost.” — Florian Illies
Patrick Bienert used to explore ideas around concepts of cultures and identity grounded on the heritage of street and documentary photography.
In ‘East End of Europe’, German photographer Patrick Bienert travels to Georgia and its capital city of Tbilisi, in search of its identity. Situated at the point where Europe meets Asia, this captivating region holds a rich and unique history, yet still seems somewhat lost in the present. Here, on the fringes of Europe, the Soviet era still casts a long shadow. The formidable faces Bienert encounters are full of pride and archaic beauty, yet every demeanour and gaze seems haunted by a fleeting sense futility. Crumbling Soviet concrete monuments and housing blocks are contrasted with portraits of young women and youths, rugged landscapes and elderly visages.
