To the Rivers

Ute Mahler, Werner Mahler

Rivers illustrate numerous social, ecological, political, economic, and historical phenomena. For photographers Ute and Werner Mahler, they are an excellent vehicle for telling stories about Europe. In emotionally powerful and visually evocative images, they present us with vignettes of everyday life, architecture, and individuals along Europe’s major waterways.

The pair began in 2019 with the Elbe, the Rhine, and the Bulgarian Danube, followed by the Po that autumn. Then, in February of 2020, came the Volga. Additional rivers, for instance the Rhone and the Dnieper, are currently being planned.

In July, Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler shot a fashion photo series again for the first time in twenty-seven years, this time commissioned by the FAZ magazines. A selection from this new series complements the exhibition.

Ute Mahler and Werner Mahler, who have been collaborating for decades, take black-and-white photographs with a large-format camera. A book is currently underway. The work is being shown for the first time, in two parallel exhibitions: in KONTINENT - Searching for Europe at the Akademie der Künste Berlin and here, at the Galerie Springer.