Photographer Mahmoud Dabdoub's pictures of everyday life in the GDR show a world that no longer exists today. They are surprising motifs, characterized by a precise observation of everyday events. In conversation with the author Thomas Brussig, Mahmoud Dabdoub talks about the creation of his motifs, the photographer's gaze and his perspective on life in the GDR.

As an introduction, Dr. Sarah Bornhorst, curator for oral history, will shed light on the importance of working with contemporary witnesses for the Berlin Wall Foundation and what makes Mahmoud Dabdoub's photos so impressive and special.

A selection of his photographs will be exhibited at the Berlin Wall Memorial Visitor Center. The volume "Everyday life in the GDR. Photos from the 1980s" will be published by Passage Verlag in May.

Program

Welcome & introduction: Sarah Bornhorst, Berlin Wall Foundation

Talk: Thomas Brussig & Mahmoud Dabdoub

Opening of the exhibition in the visitor center

MahmoudDabdoub, born in 1958 into a Palestinian family in Baalbek, Lebanon, came to Leipzig from Beirut in 1981. He studied photography at the Academy of Visual Arts. A first exhibition in the Moritzbastei showed his photographs in his first year of study, followed by further exhibitions. in 1988, his graduation exhibition from Leipzig was also shown in Cologne. He has been working as a freelance photographer since 1988. Further exhibitions in Germany and abroad followed.

Thomas Brussig, born in 1964 in East Berlin, spent his childhood there. He made his debut as a novelist in 1991 with "Wasserfarben". He had his breakthrough in 1995 with the Wender novel "Helden wie wir", which was released in cinemas in 1999. Brussig's books have been translated into 28 languages and he has received awards and prizes. His novel "Am kürzeren Ende der Sonnenallee" was filmed by Leander Haußmann under the title "Sonnenallee" and was released in cinemas in 1999. Brussig lives as a freelance writer in Berlin and Mecklenburg.

In cooperation with Passage Verlag