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Photokina 2012 - part 2 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

by Mike McNamee Published 01/10/2012

The second section, 'Our home', was a photographic journey into the past, depicting the country these people called home before the tsunami. The moving experience of seeing 'what was' mades clear the true magnitude of the calamity. The third section, 'We survive', formed the heart of the entire exhibition. These images showed the sometimes unbelievably difficult conditions under which these people have had to live since the natural disaster, and the strength of character they are demonstrating as they endeavour to get on with their lives. A picture of a lady leading her cow away to be slaughtered because they were to be displaced to a more radiation-safe area was one which affected me most, she was reported as tearfully apologising to the cow over and over again as she led it away to its death.

The smaller showing of the 1896 tsunami images, printed from a longlost album showed many similarities once you filtered out the change of clothing, styles, cars and so on. These catastrophies have devastated communities since the beginning of human evolution. It is amazing to think that in the same time as the exhibition has made its way across the oceans to Germany, large structures (including dry docks and unmanned ships) have been washed ashore on the American western seaboard.

Outdoor signage developments in recent years have allowed exhibitions to be posted away from the actual halls, including the main rail terminal in Cologne, the road from the Koelmesse train station to the halls and even a huge outdoor, floor display in the square outside the cathedral itself.

Leica presented an impressive set of exhibitions by a host of well-known international photographers in Hall 1. This included the series 'Portraits of Power' by Platon; 'Arab Spring' by the Magnum photographers Dominic Nahr, Thomas Dworzak and Moises Saman; pictures from the well-known project 'Facing Change Documenting America' by Anthony Suau; 'Personal Best for Leica' by Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt; and pictures by internationally famous photographers such as Araki, Rankin, Andreas Gursky and Hubertus von Hohenlohe. A number of the photographers, whose images were being diplayed also personally attended photokina, to provide an insight into their work.

Outdoor signage developments in recent years have allowed exhibitions to be posted away from the actual halls, including the main rail terminal in Cologne, the road from the Koelmesse train station to the halls and even a huge outdoor, floor display in the square outside the cathedral itself. Leica presented an impressive set of exhibitions by a host of well-known international photographers in Hall 1. This included the series 'Portraits of Power' by Platon; 'Arab Spring' by the Magnum photographers Dominic Nahr, Thomas Dworzak and Moises Saman; pictures from the well-known project 'Facing Change Documenting America' by Anthony Suau; 'Personal Best for Leica' by Magnum photographer Elliott Erwitt; and pictures by internationally famous photographers such as Araki, Rankin, Andreas Gursky and Hubertus von Hohenlohe. A number of the photographers, whose images were being diplayed also personally attended photokina, to provide an insight into their work.

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1st Published 01/10/2012
last update 09/12/2022 14:57:43

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Photokina 2012 - part 2 of 1 2 3 4 5 6 7