Abstract
In “Deutsche Bilder – Eine Spurensuche” (German Images – Looking for Evidence) Eva Leitolf examines racist and xenophobic crimes in Germany and the ways they are discussed in society. In the early 1990s she photographed crime scenes, victims and perpetrators, and uninvolved bystanders. Returning to the theme in 2006, she reduced the visual content to the places where the crimes had been committed, combined her images with meticulously researched texts about the events themselves and the way they were dealt with afterwards politically, by the courts and in the media. Conceived as a long-term study, this work challenges the way society deals with racist violence and in the process tests the bounds and possibilities of representation.
The work has been selected and displayed in the following exhibitions (selection from 2000):
- 2022: "Plakatkampagne 2021/2022: Eine Kooperation von Residenztheater und Pinakothek der Moderne", Pinakothek der Moderne München, München
- 2019: "Here We Are Today. Das Bild der Welt in Foto- & Videokunst", Bucerius Kunstforum, Hamburg
- 2016: "The end of the world as we know it ist der Beginn einer Welt, die wir nicht kennen" Baumwollspinnerei, Leipzig/Germany.
- 2016: "ANGRY. Young and Radical", Fotomuseum Rotterdam/The Netherlands
- 2011: "Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)possible", Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery, Columbia University, New York/USA
- 2011: "Stiftungspreis für Fotokunst 2011", Alison und Peter Klein Stiftung, Stuttgart/ Germany.
- 2010: "Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)possible", The Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art at the University of Florida, Gainesville/USA
- 2010: "En Filigrane. Eva Leitolf und Arbeiten ihrer Studenten", Pasqu´Art Photoforum, Biel/ CH (catalogue)
- 2008: "Deutsche Bilder – eine Spurensuche 1992-2008", Pinakothek d. Moderne, Munich/ Germany
- 2007: "Reality Bites: Making Avantgarde Art in Post Wall Germany", Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis/USA und Opelvillen, Rüsselsheim/Germany.
- 2007: "Mistigris - Contemporary German Photography", University of Texas, Arlington/USA
- 2007: "Deutsche Bilder – eine Spurensuche in Rostock", Thale, Solingen und Bielefeld und Rostock Ritz, Les Chiroux, Liège/Belgium (solo)
- 2000: "Die Welt als Ganzes. Fotografie aus Deutschland nach 1989", SK-Stiftung Cologne/ Germany.