ESCAPING I
What does it mean to escape a country? To cross a border not only geographically but also politically and existentially; to leave the East and reappear on the other side, starting again from an imposed ground zero?
This project examines attempts to escape the German Democratic Republic (GDR), focusing on photographs of a Stasi prison (Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial), and juxtaposing them with documents from the Stasi archive. This contrast exposes the mechanisms of surveillance, revealing how bureaucratic systems of power documented, controlled, and ultimately restricted human movement and autonomy.
The identity of the portrayed person who attempted to escape is deliberately blurred. This anonymity resists individualization, allowing these stories to stand in for countless others. It suggests that escape, repression, and risk are structurally produced and capable of affecting anyone, anywhere.
ESCAPING invites reflection on how systems of power continue to shape bodies, borders, and mobility today, while also pointing to the possibilities of resistance within contemporary geopolitical realities. The work exposes the systematic denial of human rights and confronts the viewer with an urgent question: what forms of responsibility and action are possible in the face of such structures?
The exhibition is complemented by an interview with Peter Bieber, whose decision to risk his own life while helping others escape reveals the processes of decision-making within authoritarian systems and the cost of choosing solidarity over safety.
Courtesy of the Stasi Media Library and the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen Memorial.
Digital and archival photography, transparent foil/paper, Artivist Lab, Prague, Czechia, 2025
