Über Land
Landscape Photography by Peter Oehlmann
The work of photographer Peter Oehlmann explores one of the major themes of contemporary life – the relationship between man and nature. He focuses on man's appropriation of the environment and the consequences arising from it. In his finely crafted photographs, the artist shows us monumental landscapes, formed over countless years by the forces of nature, apparently defying all change.
Observed from great heights and often on the edge of a chasm man appears minuscule. There are deserted settlements, relics of an industrial age, built by man but now devoid of all life. In his works, which were made over three decades, Oehlmann is concerned with land as a dwindling resource as well as with changing ideas of ideal landscapes, with the portrayal of (urban) landscapes as a political statement or the relationship between landscape and home. Through his vision of nature as threatened and vanishing, the artist broadens the notion of landscape. As a phenomenon of modern times this is connected with concepts evolving through history.
Peter Oehlmann (*1953) studied photography at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig and graduated under Evelyn Richter.
The artist has exhibited on numerous occasions both nationally and internationally, among others in the 2012 exhibition "Geschlossene Gesellschaft – Künstlerische Fotografie in der DDR". His works can be found in renowned collections, including the Berlinische Galerie, the Stiftung Moritzburg and Brandenburgischen Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst, Cottbus.
photos © Gerhard Haug
