BERLIN, BEYOND THE WALL


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As our contribution to the Photo Saint Germain festival, Galerie Folia is pleased to present the photographic work of Patrick Tourneboeuf, Berlin, Beyond The Wall, produced in collaboration with the journalist and cartographer Laurent Gontier.

The Fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989 is a landmark in 20th-century history. In this era of Brexit and ”Trump’s Wall,” what do the stigmata of that city – divided for nearly a half a century and symbol of the Cold War, renewal, and hope for a better world – have to teach us?

In 1988, curious to understand the whys and wherefores of that border, Patrick Tourneboeuf made a first, initiatory journey. He went back repeatedly between 1990 and 2016, first in search of traces left on a mutating cityscape, then with an eye honed for the off-beat and unexpected details.

In May, 2019, his project came to a close with one last trip that allowed him to complete his quest for the invisible within the visible. Accompanied by the journalist and cartographer Laurent Gontier, their journey went back to the topographic sources for the precise location of the Wall – the perfect excuse to walk its entire length, reaching out to both the people and the territory.

With his Berlin, Beyond The Wall project, photographer Patrick Tournebœuf explores Memory and the Scar, encouraging, by the Present, reflection through an attachment to the Wall’s symbolic and universal meaning, echoing other ramparts that have been raised in ever-increasing numbers around the world over the past decade.

On the trail of bygone times, the photographer also explores his medium: in what way can photography accompany history and bear witness to contemporary reality? How can observing a territory reveal stasis, or oblivion?

photographs by Patrick TOURNEBOEUF

From 06/11/2019 to 21/12/2019
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