Faux Diamonds, 2024
After reunification, many in the former GDR believed their lives would soon match the prosperity of the West. They saw the West as a flawless society, expecting freedom and democracy to arrive effortlessly while the state continued to provide paternal care. But when reality failed to meet these expectations, disappointment set in. The challenge of adapting to freedom—making independent decisions and taking personal responsibility—proved difficult for many, leading to resentment.
Today, a significant shift in political allegiances is taking place among former East Germans. Many who grew up under authoritarian rule now express scepticism toward democratic institutions, gravitating toward extreme parties that promise a return to control. These parties exploit a desire for clear hierarchies and a longing for past certainties, fuelling a growing hostility toward immigrants, minorities, and dissenting voices.
In response to these themes, I have created resin pieces encapsulating black-and-white negatives of my students from the summer of 1989. These photographs also form the foundation of my projects Pavlov’s Children and History Overwritten. For Faux Diamonds, each resin block is enclosed in wire cages fashioned from champagne bottle tops and arranged in a tabletop display cabinet, with spotlights casting intersecting shadows on the cabinet floor. From above, the resin pieces resemble precious gemstones trapped within their cages. Yet, upon closer inspection, these "gemstones" reveal themselves as negatives—fragments of memory, encased and suspended.
The display evokes the atmosphere of an organised, ceremonial event, while the cages allude to both the liberation that began in 1989 and the entrapment that remains—whether in ideology, nostalgia, or disillusionment. It also references the "champagne socialists" in the UK, who romanticise the socialist experiment from a distance, viewing life under dictatorship through an idyllic, detached lens.Titled Faux Diamonds, this project interrogates the false promises of the GDR, the disappointments of reunification, and the dangers of idealising a past shaped by oppression.
Today, a significant shift in political allegiances is taking place among former East Germans. Many who grew up under authoritarian rule now express scepticism toward democratic institutions, gravitating toward extreme parties that promise a return to control. These parties exploit a desire for clear hierarchies and a longing for past certainties, fuelling a growing hostility toward immigrants, minorities, and dissenting voices.
In response to these themes, I have created resin pieces encapsulating black-and-white negatives of my students from the summer of 1989. These photographs also form the foundation of my projects Pavlov’s Children and History Overwritten. For Faux Diamonds, each resin block is enclosed in wire cages fashioned from champagne bottle tops and arranged in a tabletop display cabinet, with spotlights casting intersecting shadows on the cabinet floor. From above, the resin pieces resemble precious gemstones trapped within their cages. Yet, upon closer inspection, these "gemstones" reveal themselves as negatives—fragments of memory, encased and suspended.
The display evokes the atmosphere of an organised, ceremonial event, while the cages allude to both the liberation that began in 1989 and the entrapment that remains—whether in ideology, nostalgia, or disillusionment. It also references the "champagne socialists" in the UK, who romanticise the socialist experiment from a distance, viewing life under dictatorship through an idyllic, detached lens.Titled Faux Diamonds, this project interrogates the false promises of the GDR, the disappointments of reunification, and the dangers of idealising a past shaped by oppression.
