Beginning in the 1980s, photographer Sven Marquardt directed his attention to the diversity of East Berlin’s creative scene; his evocative black-and-white photographs created points of contact and visibility between the different subcultures. For almost ten years now, Marquardt has been portraying people from a wide variety of cultural and social milieus worldwide, most recently during an artist’s residency in New York City, where he photographed people on the streets of Harlem and Brooklyn and became part of their stories, experiences, adventures and emotions.

Reaching across national boundaries, Marquardt’s portraits speak a language of touch and shared identity. Following the period of collective isolation, his journey and project made it possible for him to overcome geographical and emotional barriers in one of the world’s most important art hubs.