(2018)

The Donbass region is an industrial area which turned into a zone of armed conflict. The antagonists are divided by a 450 km long frontline which divides families, friendships and whole towns and cities. The thin line between the trenches is called The Grey Zone. It is exactly that: a grey zone of uncertainty, where nobody knows what the next day will bring.

Together with Jutta Sommerbauer, a seasoned journalist, I documented the stories of everyday people along the line. Questions of personal dispositions in this conflict and future perspectives were guiding us through the area. Beyond usual photography of war we were documenting realities that are created by unresolved conflicts. During our visits to the grey zone we collected stories that tell of willpower and hopelessness, of the feeling of being left to one’s own devices, of not wanting to give up, and of a life that wants to be more than mere survival. We have documented people’s fates and want to share them through texts and images. If big terms cease to be effective, human experience becomes the new, old starting point.

„Grauzone“ was published as a 224 pages book by the publishing house bahoe in Vienna, April 2018. The images entwine the texts and vice versa. Not illustrating the texts I focussed on creating an athmosphere with pictures, that support the written word but can stand on their own, too. The result is a marriage of Non Fiction and Artistic photo book.

You can order your copy in every bookstore and on amazon of course. ISBN: 3903022837

WIRED  published a piece on the book.

Some chapters (including additional images) can be read in English at the Erste Foundation

orf.at listed Grauzone as one of the must reads this summer.

derstandard.at wrote a small review

Deutsche Welle wrote a long piece in Russian

Urbanautica did a long interview on the grey zone and other works

Falter wrote a very nice piece in German

TAZ  wrote a very nice piece in German

perlentaucher.de listed Grauzone amongst the best of September

ze.tt wrote a beautiful piece in German