DFA-Podcast #11 | Günter Hildenhagen - German Photographic Academy

DFA Podcast #11

Günter Hildenhagen: A life's work of social themes

As a photographer, Günter Hildenhagen has devoted himself exclusively to social issues. And he has been doing so since the 1960s, when his many years of work for the Diakonie and later Caritas began.

Photographing in homes for people with physical and mental disabilities, on nursing and death wards, is what he himself calls "work in enclosed spaces." What gives his images unique expressiveness are the vibrations and gestures of human care that are captured along with them.

In the podcast with Corinna Weidner, the 86-year-old talks about his path from postal worker to photojournalist. About his motivation to social issues, his clients and the discussions about euthanasia in the 1960s/70s. Why he doesn't do accusatory social photography and how eye level succeeds.

And of course about his active time in the Gesellschaft Deutscher Lichtbildner, the importance of Pan Walther and Otto Steinert for his work and why he wanted to initiate a Willy Moegle Award.

41 mins

Listen on Podcast.de, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and YouTube!

Note to our English-speaking subscribers: This talk is in German, but if you watch the recording on YouTube, you can have English subtitles generated.

We would like to thank 'KULTUR.GEMEINSCHAFTEN – Förderprogramm für digitale Content-Produktion in Kultureinrichtungen' for their support. This funding project is supported by Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, NEUSTART KULTUR and Kulturstiftung der Länder.