Helga Paris

Through honest, raw and intimate photography, Helga Paris captured the stories of individuals living within the collective system of the GDR.

Paris photographed houses and street views but also factory workers, garbage collectors, children and ordinary citizens. Invisible to many, her subjects gain dignity through her lens, becoming worthy of art. She portrays her subjects with deep respect, integrity, and empathy. By focusing on individual stories, she invites us, as viewers, to connect more intimately with her subjects.

On view are key series spanning five decades - among them Treff-Modelle, showing women in an East Berlin fashion factory; Berliner Jugendliche, an observant, nonjudgmental study of teenagers in the 1980s; and Hellersdorf, made after the fall of the Berlin Wall in a Plattenbau district. The selection also features portraits of artists and city scenes from Alexanderplatz and Berlin pubs, capturing the poetry of everyday life.

Helga Paris occasionally turned the camera on herself. In Erinnerungen an Z. (Memories of Z.), she reflects on her childhood in Zossen. Her Selbstportraits (self-portraits) keep a certain distance—more documentary than performative. The exhibition also includes series like Masks, New York, and Affections, a posthumously curated selection.

Taken from a text by Bert Papenfuß, the title speaks to community as survival –an idea at the heart of Paris’s work. She met the people she photographed with openness, empathy, and respect.

Her photography offers a gentle reminder that history is not only shaped by politicians and those in power. It unfolds in everyday life – on the streets, in factories, and in bars. It is written by individuals, each carrying their own struggles, hopes, and fears.

Credits

The exhibition was curated by Marina Paulenka, Director of Exhibitions at Fotografiska Berlin, and Udo Kittelmann and realized in partnership with Jenny Paris, head of the Helga Paris estate. © Estate Helga Paris.