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Hermine Oberück

Hermine Oberück

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About

Formative upbringing in the Ruhr area, women's movement and politically engaged since the 68s, 1977 diploma in social science and three years of professional experience as a civil servant teacher. 1980 professional restart and fulfillment of my life's dream: After studying at the FH Bielefeld (diploma in photo design), I have been a freelance photographer since 1988. 2012 "in the middle of life" seriously ill, 2023 at the age of 72 "back in life" and member of the DFA.

Statement

"I have always been a political photographer who wanted to contribute, make a difference and change things." From the very beginning, my photographic work has focused on people in different, very challenging life situations. I have always been most interested in the stories that took place 'in the shadows' or under the radar of German society, in Eastern Europe or South America, and I wanted my photography to contribute to "making visible what is not seen". Over the years, I have therefore invested a lot of time, energy and money in freelance photo projects and long-term photographic studies in addition to my broad-based photojournalistic work (e.g. for ZEIT, SPIEGEL, epd or the Bertelsmann Foundation). As with my work on the 'care' of people with disabilities in so-called closed institutions, dementia, breast cancer, migration and the long-term consequences of the Chernobyl reactor disaster, I was often the first to photographically process these major, (socio-)politically relevant topics and thus ensure publicity. Being (or having been) a pioneer in this sense is an integral part of my self-image as a political photographer.

Education

  • seit 2023 | Mitglied der Deutschen Fotografischen Akademie
  • seit 1989 | freiberufliche Fotografin
  • 1988 | Abschluss als Diplom-Fotodesignerin an der FH für Gestaltung Bielefeld
  • 1981–1987 | Studium an der Folkwang-Schule und der FH für Gestaltung in Bielefeld bei den Professoren Jörg Boström und Jürgen Heinemann
  • 1977–1980 | Tätigkeit als verbeamtete Lehrerin am Gymnasium Bad Oeynhausen
  • 1976 | Abschluss als Diplom-Sozialwissenschaftlerin und 2. Staatsexamen an der Ruhruniversität Bochum
  • 1970–1975 | Studium der Soziologie et. al. an der Ruhruniversität Bochum
  • 1969 | Allgemeine Hochschulreife
  • 1961–1969 | Besuch eines Duisburger Gymnasiums
  • 1951 | geboren und aufgewachsen in Duisburg

Selected Exhibitions/Publications

  • deutschlandweit bis heute gezeigte Ausstellungen:
  • 1984– | „Nazmirs Hochzeit“: Ausstellung, Duisburg
  • 1986– | „unvernünftig“: Alltag von Geistig Behinderten – Ausstellung, Espelkamp.
  • 1994ff. | „welt verlassen“: Frauen begegnen Alter und Tod – Ausstellung
  • 1999– | „Knotenpunkt“: Leben mit Brustkrebs – Ausstellung
  • 2006–2014 | „Ich integriere mich von frühmorgens bis spätabends“ – Wanderausstellung in Kooperation mit Gertraud Strohm-Katzer, Bielefeld, Eigenverlag, 2006ff.
  • 2011– | Ausstellung „Leben nach Tschernobyl“- Eine fotografische Langzeitbeobachtung. –
  • 2012– | „Frauen in der Altenpflege kommen zu Wort“ – Ausstellung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Gleichstellungsbeauftragten in Ostwestfalen-Lippe, u.a. Paderborn, 2012.
  • Publikationen:
  • 1993 | „Lebenswege. Lippische Juden in Israel“, – Ausstellung und Buch: Schäfer, Ingrid et al., „Lebenswege. Lippische Juden in Israel. Bilder und Berichte“, Hrsg. Gesellschaft für ChristlichJüdische Zusammenarbeit in Lippe e.V., Detmold, 1993.
  • 1996 | Hermine Oberück und Brigitte Fenner, „welt verlassen“, ErevRav Verlag, 2. Auflage 2004
  • 1999 | Hermine Oberück, „Knotenpunkt“: Leben mit Brustkrebs – Booklet zur Aussellung, Bielefeld, Eigenverlag, 1999ff.
  • 2006 bis 2014: Hermine Oberück und Gertraud Strohm-Katzer, „Ich integriere mich von frühmorgens bis spätabends“ – wachsendes Booklet zur Wanderausstellung in Kooperation mit Gertraud Strohm-Katzer, Bielefeld, Eigenverlag, 2006ff.
  • 2011: Hermine Oberück, Leben nach Tschernobyl, Fotografie 1986 – 2010, KunstSinnVerlag Bielefeld, 2. Auflage 2011
  • 2014 | Fotografien von Hermine Oberück in: „Mahlzeit Deutchland!“, Paula Tamm, Hrsg., freelens bei dpunkt-verlag Heidelberg, 2014
  • 2019 | Fotografien von Hermine Oberück in: Bündnis90/Die Grünen Bielefeld, Hrsg., „Frisch Anders Bewegend: 40 Jahre Grüne in Bielefeld“, Bielefeld, November 2019,  S. 16, S. 34, S.36

Personal Website

http://oberueck.com

„Sichtbarmachen was man nicht sieht“: Hermine Oberücks fotografisches Lebenswerk

„Sichtbarmachen was man nicht sieht“: Hermine Oberücks fotografisches Lebenswerk

Photo presentation of the lecture, held at the DFA December Conference on December 2, 2024 in the Deichtorhallen Hamburg: Hermine Oberück presented her photographic life's work here and was subsequently appointed a member of the DFA. The recording of the lecture can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP-T6ffH-0Y

Format:

PDF Presentation

Works

Hermine Old people - Photographs from 1992 to 2014

Hermine Old people - Photographs from 1992 to 2014

Until well into the 2000s, old people, especially those with dementia or in need of care, and the people who were involved in their care and nursing professionally or within the family circle (more than 90% of whom were women), were among the little-noticed "marginalized groups" in German society. Age-related illnesses, dependency relationships and poverty in old age, which often affects elderly women in particular, were taboo or simply ignored. As early as the 1990s, I began to deal photographically with old people, their living and housing situation in old age and their illnesses and limitations. This resulted in a number of different exhibition projects, from which I am showing you some representative photographs here.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Work:
Hermine Old people - Photographs from 1992 to 2014

Hermine Oberück | Chernobyl

Hermine Oberück | Chernobyl

Between 1991 and 2006, I undertook a total of 6 photographic journeys to the areas most severely affected by the fallout from the super-GAU at the Soviet nuclear power plant in Chernobyl in 1986. There, in heavily contaminated exclusion zones, in hospitals, abortion clinics, children's homes, specialist oncology clinics for adults and children, in resettlement areas and blocks of flats, I documented the people affected by the short and long-term consequences of the nuclear radiation released, the destroyed infrastructure and the development of the regions in the disintegrating USSR. I wanted to see with my own eyes what had happened behind the Iron Curtain in 1986. With my work, I want to make visible what should not be seen in the East and West: The destructive consequences of what is still the biggest nuclear disaster of all time.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Work:
Hermine Oberück | Chernobyl
Year Created:
2024

Hermine Oberück | Healthcare - Photographs from Germany and Eastern Europe, 1988 to 2014

Hermine Oberück | Healthcare - Photographs from Germany and Eastern Europe, 1988 to 2014

Ever since my diploma thesis and the resulting exhibition about people with disabilities at Wittekindshof, one of Germany's largest diaconal institutions in the 1980s, I have been photographically exploring various topics in the German and international healthcare system. Many of my works on the situation of physically, mentally or psychologically impaired people were photojournalistic pilot studies that allowed the viewer a look behind the scenes of the healthcare system and cleared up restrictive taboos. This applies in particular to the topics of "epilepsy surgery", "organ transplants", "dementia" and "breast cancer". The latter two exhibitions, which were created in this context, are so historically significant that they are still on display today.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Author:
Hermine Oberück
Work:
Hermine Oberück | Healthcare - Photographs from Germany and Eastern Europe, 1988 to 2014
Year Created:
2024
Copyright:
© Hermine Oberück

Hermine Oberück | 40 years of photography

Hermine Oberück | 40 years of photography

In this gallery, I have collected individual images and excerpts from series for you, representing themes that I have repeatedly explored in different contexts and from different perspectives over 40 years of photographic work - including the theme of "migration", on which I conceived my first exhibition in the 1980s in the Ruhr area with "Nazmir's Wedding" and on which I continued to work until 2014 in the context of my large traveling exhibition "I integrate myself from early morning to late evening" (in cooperation with Gertraud Strohm-Katzer). As a photographer, I have traveled often and extensively - including to Nicaragua and repeatedly to the countries of the so-called Eastern Bloc and the (former) GDR. You will also find some representative photos of this in this gallery.

Format:

Photo / Video

Credits
Author:
Hermine Oberück
Work:
Hermine Oberück | 40 years of photography
Year Created:
2024
Copyright:
© Hermine Oberück