The exhibition catalog of the charity exhibition.

Like my written story in the book HOPE – by Alexander von Wiedenbeck told you, the reportage about the cemetery and dumpsite children at the Philippines was a far more profound experience than I had previously imagined. In spite of this previous experience, I was actually not aware that the process of creating the exhibition catalog, the photo book can be an equally profound and sometimes nerve-wracking work. After the production of my first work OBSESSION FOR FREEDOM, as well as another exhibition catalog for a small project about sculptures, I actually thought that I was now experienced enough and hoped for a faster and more effective “processing” of the individual to-do’s. But it wasn’t, quite the opposite. From the very beginning when I selected the photographs, the experiences of the trip picked me up immediately. With every single photograph, the synapse to a story, an experience was discovered, every story revived in me, was “re-processed” and also flowed directly into my notes on the story for the opening of the book. Thus, the process of selecting the photographs dragged on for several months, followed by weeks of endless elaborations of my notes of the trip, all in all resulted in a catalog that is much more than just the photographs of this trip – it is much more – a personal, deeply honest and unadorned notebook of a profound life experience!

The printing of this book has been, like all my books, of course in the usual Novaton process in offset printing. Together with Christiane R., the luminary of high-quality photo books and the first address for large publishers such as Schirmer Mosel or Taschen, who is always on my side for the lithography of my photographs and the printing of books, we were finally able to produce a really awesome photo book. Like it is so often the case, it turned out that in the end, the printing of the photograph is just as important or requires as much attention to achieve the best possible result as the creation of the photos themselves.

© Behind the Scenes photographs by BLACK BOX GALLERY®

Hope dies last – so they say. But is that really the case? Can there be hope, when children live in cemeteries and have to spend the night in graves? Can there be hope, when young girls, barely eight years old, are molested by their uncle or grandfather? Can there be hope, when children search from dawn to dusk in rubbish dumps for usable materials, so that if they are lucky they will get a meal at the end of the day? Can there be hope, when a girl forced into prostitution already has two abortions behind her?

“They opened my heart, much more I ever thought it could be.”
Alexander von Wiedenbeck

The answer – a clear YES – is faith, hope and love, which impel the children. Hope for a better life and the pursuit of happiness drive them and give them their strength. In the midst of all the chaos, poverty and dark shadows, it is this hope and this unswerving faith, which one can see in the children’s eyes and feel in their hearts. They keep on going, they struggle, they never give up, and we shouldn’t either.


HOPE – by Alexander von Wiedenbeck

The catalog to the charity exhibition
Limited non-profit exhibition catalog 2.000 copies
140 pages in size 230x320mm printed in Novaton
ISBN 978-3-00-052673-2

>>> The exhibition catalog here available  
>>> Limited Fine Art Prints here available

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Exhibition – HOPE by Alexander von Wiedenbeck
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Film – Obsession for Freedom