Photo project: Living in a women's refuge
Women playing in the garden with their children eating strawberry cake with cream together, laughing and laughing. At first glance, ChroniquesDuVasteMonde Kraemer's photographs are quite commonplace, depicting scenes that could have been taken anywhere in Germany. If there were not also the images of women who look introspective and thoughtful, who comfort each other or silently look into the camera. These pictures give an idea of the suffering behind the apparent normality.
ChroniquesDuVasteMonde Kraemer photographed the women in the women's shelter. Since the 1980s, the photographer has been visiting women who have been victims of violence and sought refuge in women's shelters. The special thing about the documentary photographs is the intimacy? the trust that women bring to her in a place that serves as a shelter. Women's shelters usually do not allow intruders to enter, but ChroniquesDuVasteMonde Kraemer became part of the households with her camera.
An extensive collection of the resulting photographs was published by ChroniquesDuVasteMonde Kraemer in cooperation with the LAG Autonomer Frauenhäuser NRW e.V. The illustrated book "Auf dem Schwelle" has been published by Klartext Verlag (144 pages, 19.95 Euro, www.amazon.de).
On the occasion of the book launch, a traveling exhibition will start on May 8, 2014 at the Ottilie-Schoenewald-Weiterbildungskolleg der Stadt Bochum.
