Projects
Exhibitions
Publications
Biography
Contact
Links
© 2005-2008
Website by D. Maisel
View photographs 
These photos were inspired by Walter Benjamin's childhood memoir, Berliner Kindheit. Benjamin wrote this collection of forty-two texts after leaving Germany in 1932. It distills the poignancy of a bourgeois childhood in turn-of-the-century Berlin from vividly remembered places, things and experiences. Shortly after coming to Berlin with her husband and young daughter in 1991, Aura Rosenberg found herself moving through the very spaces Benjamin once did. She found a city that, although vastly altered, had subtly remained the same. It held an uncanny attraction for her; her family too fled Germany in 1930s. Tracing Benjamin's path in the daily routines of raising a child - intermingled with reconstructing her own family history. Her goal became to produce photos to match each entry in Benjamin's book. This series is the result of that quest. What emerges is a retrospective look into the origins of modernity through the lens of contemporary Berlin. These photos have been shown in solo exhibitions at the daadgalerie in Berlin, Gallery 20.21, Essen, Germany, Gasser & Grunert Gallery, New York City. They were included in the 3rd Berlin Biennale, Berlin. A volume of the photos was co-published by Steidl and the D.A.A.D. in 2002 and is available on-line at Amazon. Shown here is a selection from the 175 photos in the book. |