Traces of humans in the forest

Meticulously stacked dead wood, plastic waste on the ground: this is the reality in many forests around the world. The long arm of man is leaving its environmentally destructive mark on almost every corner of the globe. The diversity of the plant world depicted in the picture recedes into the background, but its threat makes it all the more urgent in the viewer's consciousness. The exhibition Greenery: Plants in contemporary photography sheds light on this multifaceted subject and explores the connections between ecosystems and human cultures. The photographs will be on display at the Berlinische Galerie from October 12, 2023 to January 22, 2024.

Participants in the show are the Germans Falk Haberkorn, Ingar Krauss, Susanne Kriemann and Stefanie Seufert as well as the Kenyan Mimi Cherono Ng'ok and the Pole Andrzej Steinbach. The latter does not present his own works, but a selection of historical photographs from the Folkwang-Auriga publishing house. They come from the estate of the artist Ernst Fuhrmann (1886-1956) and date to the years from 1919 to 1935. Fuhrmann was a pioneer of the New Objectivity; his works form a contrast to contemporary works and illustrate how man's influence on nature has changed over the last 100 years.