Between November 1990 and July 1991, I photographed people in the Berlin subway. Some “ghost stations” (Jannowitzbrücke, Rosenthaler Platz) were put back into service just a few days after the fall of the Wall, and by July 1990, all subway stations were open again.
Passengers move between East and West, between hope and fear, between nostalgia and new beginnings, between learned certainties and new ideas, and perhaps also between their old home and their new home.
What strikes me most are the emptiness, the tranquility, and the apparent solemnity that characterized public life on Berlin’s public transportation system at the time. That era was marked by openness, prejudice, curiosity, uncertainty, consumerism, poverty, and a stark confrontation with decay and new beginnings.
A book accompanying this work has been published, featuring an introduction by Matthias Harder.
Passengers, 1990/91, Pigment print 100cm x 70cm, edition: 5