July 2001
Dear readers,
This is Bertram Kober: photographer, mentor, and buddy. Co-founder of the Punctum photo agency. He is a product of the GDR, and graduate of one of the last great photography schools here before its qualities were diluted by second rate western teachers (who couldn´t get good jobs elsewhere!).
The theme of "globalisation" (the destructive impact of the West on other cultures) attracts lots of attention these days, but it´s also apparent here. When The Wall came down in 1989, the East Germans that went west in search of "freedom" returned with McDonalds, and Coke, but also disappointment. Eleven years later the, perhaps naive, ideals of socialism are all but gone, replaced by resentment and disillusionment. The theme now is more about capital gain.
I walked through the market place this afternoon, and watched a small crowd heckling a young man on a soap box attempting to remind them of Hitler´s brainwashing propaganda and its similarities to today´s events.
Bertram is a successful and hardworking commercial photographer, but he is also recording and exhibiting the bizarre effects of the changes: "...searching for my identity, my way, in a changed world where there are many possibilities, but with a healthy skepticism." He is also thinking about visiting NZ soon...be nice (and listen) to him.
Dean