In images, in picturesDamian Heinisch invites him on a journey back to his origins. The German photographer used the same railway lines in 2013 that transported his ancestors. His on-the-fly images show familiar and timeless scenes.
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A woman at her window on a summer day, a child in shorts on rails, workers at work in the fields, the slender chimneys of factories, walls covered with graffiti… From the window of the train that brings him back from Ukraine to Norway, Damian Heinisch captures the landscapes that pass before him. Familiar and timeless scenes, on a journey through Europe and its tumultuous history.
He was 10 years old on June 8, 1978, when he boarded the train that was to take them to Essen, Germany, with his parents and older brother. His father had waited seven years for the permit which authorized him to enter Germany. It was his homeland before World War II broke out and the town of Gliwice, where he was born, became Polish, forcing him to change his name and nationality.
On March 19, 1945, his grandfather also boarded a train, piled with dozens of men in a cattle wagon by Soviet troops. He died seven months later, in a labor camp in Donbass, Debaltseve, after a failed escape attempt.
Detailed account of a deportation
In 2001, Damian Heinisch left Essen to go into exile in Norway ” by love “. Ten years ago, the photographer, who teaches at the Bilder Nordic School of Photography in Oslo, embarked on a project: retracing the history of his family and, through it, that of generations marked by the exile. He retrieves his grandfather’s little notebook, where this former foreman of a coal mine had transcribed the detailed account of his deportation. One of his fellow inmates had brought it to his wife when he returned from the camps.
“The strongest images are those that resonate with us, because we recognize ourselves in them and can project ourselves into them. »Damian Heinisch
In the family, silence had settled: “The injury remained open, but we wanted to forget. “ For the photographer, it’s the click. When Damian Heinisch reads the newspaper, his grandfather’s words never let go. The need to visit the places where he died is imperative. In spring 2013, he went to Debaltseve, now Ukrainian. He does not find his grandfather’s grave there. He flowers that of a stranger, then calls his father and aunt.
A long journey begins: 4,323 kilometers, between Debaltseve and Oslo, via Gliwice and Essen. Damian Heinisch realizes it in four stages, over four seasons, his 35mm film camera screwed on the eye. He takes 120 films and comes back with 4000 photos, snapshots taken on the fly, along the tracks, as the train goes to the next station.
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