The exhibition “Ein Dorf 1950–2022. Ute Mahler, Werner Mahler und Ludwig Schirmer” is a long-term project by three photographers and at the same time a documentation of family history illustrating aspects of time and change. The project has its origins in the
village of Berka in Thuringia, but extends far beyond the boundaries of that village.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Ludwig Schirmer, Ute Mahler's father, worked as a master miller in Berka. His great passion, however, was photography. Some years after the end of the Second World War he began to document everyday life, the celebrations and life in the village.

In 1977, without being aware of father-in-law's photos, Werner Mahler decided to photograph his diploma thesis at the Leipziger Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Berka. In 1998, the magazine Stern asked him to update his work to show the changes since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The fourth group of works, photographed by Ute Mahler in Berka in 2021/22, can be viewed as a familial successor to the three other photographic projects and at the same time stands as an independent perspective.

All four works depict one location over a period of 70 years. They explore questions about continuity and change, about home, childhood, about moving away and returning, about old and new, about the familiar and the unknown.

In co-operation with Agentur OSTKREUZ

In the frame of EMOP Berlin – European Month of Photography 2025