The photographic long-term project deals with the Rhenish brown coal area. An area marked by climate change, climate activism and also the desperation of the people who are losing their homes in this region. Villages are being demolished, forests are being cleared, and with regard to the planned coal phase-out, there are many protest actions. Police, plant security, demolition squads, residents and climate activists put the area in a constant state of unrest.

Uta Schmitz-Esser collected photographic impressions here from September 2020 to September 2021 and sees her work as a hybrid between reportage and art photography. Here, the images change a lot: landscape shots contrast with images showing protests: situations of political struggle. This often takes place against the background of a dramatic cloudy sky — something is brewing here: in troubled times.

Uta Schmitz-Esser. Studied visual communication, graduated in documentary and reportage photography with Prof. Wilhelm Schürmann at the FH Aachen. Lives and works as a freelance designer and photographer in Cologne. In her freelance work she combines reportage and art photography on mostly socially critical topics.

ceus-design.de
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