Thomas Hoepker, DDR/East Germany – Colour Works 1972–1990 is an illustrated hardcover containing 145 photographs which – unique in their artistic quality and many not been published before – provide a deep insight into life in post-war East Germany, the ‘other Germany’.
In 1974 Thomas Hoepker was the first West German photographer to be officially permitted to work in the GDR and travelled throughout the country from there. Until 1976 he reported for Stern magazine from the self-proclaimed ‘Arbei’ together with his then wife, the journalist Eva Windmöller. His colour photographs, taken here from the early 1970s to 1990, describe life in the GDR with empathy, understanding and Hoepker's unmistakable humour. He photographed the GDR in its own colours to convey an alternative image of the country that questioned official the representations of state propaganda which had a monopoly on colour photography. His images of the historical upheavals of the reunification period establish him the pre-eminent observer and chronicler of the GDR’s disappearance from history.
Buchkunst Berlin, 320pp, 20cm x 28cm, illustrated hardback, German/English, 2025
