Dokumentarische Fotografie
Dekonstruktion
(Aus dem Forschungsprojekt über den städtebaulichen Wandel in Frankfurt „Abriss Frankfurt“)
Some look at condemned buildings and see only disrepair and decay. German photojournalist Meike Fischer, on the other hand, sees a cultural tragedy—a lost chapter in her city’s history. Her photoseries Panta Rhei/Frankfurt is an effort in visual conservation: started in 2009 in reaction to the European Central Bank’s decision to relocate to the east end of Frankfurt, and anticipating the grave changes that would soon follow, Fischer intiated her own „photographic documentary“ to chronicle the steady demise of some of the city’s oldest establishments.
Within a few years, Fischer was presented with an unanticipated continuation of her series when another development, inserting itself into the city’s skyline, brought about a second phase of infrastructural destruction. Walking through her transitioning city, the photographer says she often felt like she was „wandering through ruins“: „So, at a point, I started to take close-ups of the demolision to depict the rigidity and vehemence of the interventions,“ Fischer tells The Creators Project. „This was the point when the work started to be not only a documantary but also a poetic work.“
(Text: Sami Emory/The creators project)
