Conversations with Filmmakers

A selection of 400 black-and-white photographs taken by Tina Bara between 1983 and 1989 in East Berlin, the old GDR and other travels comprises this artists book. Documentary photographs on a clandestine trip to Russia, forbidden scenes from the VEB Buna chemical plant, and observations of punks and other young rebels are interwoven with intense full-body and portrait photographs of her friends as well as a photographic love story. Combined with texts in the form of subtitles, this poignant body of work captures a cinematic-like quality. Bara also shares her search for feminine identity within the subversive, melancholy rebellion against East Germanys dictatorial system. Her photographs convey the collective need to break out of a monotonous system repressive of individuality and self-will that no longer exist. This visual diary captures a moment right before the collapse of an entire political and ideological system.