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until 01.02. | #4539ARTatBerlin | CAMERA WORK shows from Friday, 13. December 2024 the exhibition with photo book presentation “Augenblicke: DDR-Fotografie 1956-90” by the artist Thomas Billhardt.
Photography played the main role for Thomas Billhardt (born in Chemnitz in 1937) from an early age. At the age of 14, his mother, who also worked as a photographer, began to train him. He then studied at the technical college for applied arts in Magdeburg until 1957. At the beginning of his career, he gained his first practical experience as a factory photographer at the open-cast lignite mine in Großkayna before being employed as a publishing photographer at the postcard publisher Bild und Heimat. At the same time, he began his studies to become a photographer and photo designer at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig. His diploma thesis on Alexanderplatz in Berlin was to be a harbinger of the fact that he would return to this historic location again and again throughout his life.
While still a student in Leipzig, Thomas Billhardt became a member of the Association of German Journalists. He spent the following years working as a freelance photographer – a privilege that he valued, as it allowed him to move freely in photographic terms and not be tied to contracts. Thomas Billhardt was later hired as a working group leader at the German Advertising Agency. As a reportage photographer, Thomas Billhardt travelled to a total of over 50 countries – the pictures he took there were published worldwide. Thomas Billhardt’s immeasurable achievement in raising public awareness of war and the resulting suffering with his photographs from the war and crisis regions of the world is paramount. He became world-famous with his photographs of the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Numerous international exhibitions have honoured this successful endeavour by Thomas Billhardt. His photographs are exhibited around the world as a testimony to the times and as an important part of German photographic history. In 1988, his work was part of the UNICEF exhibition Children of the World in New York. A few years later, UNICEF and Thomas Billhardt continued their collaboration, with Thomas Billhardt photographically accompanying several projects in Asia.
Exhibition dates: Friday, 13. December 2024 until Saturday, 01. February 2025
To the gallery
Title image caption: Thomas Billhardt, Augenblicke: DDR-Fotografie 1956–90, courtesy of CAMERA WORK
Exhibition Thomas Billhardt | Camera Work | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Ausstellungen Berlin Galerien | ART at Berlin
