Michel Kekulé - Mutterland

Mutterland is a fragmentary, documentary photographic work, ongoing since 2019, in which Kekulé explores the societal and personal fractures left by German reunification in the East German provinces. More than 35 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the effects of these transformations are still palpable. The work captures a current state of being in the East German provinces while searching for answers in the past. The project moves between societal reflection and an intimate engagement with his own family history.

Reunification brought hopes but also uncertainties. Kekulé's grandfather, a knife maker from the Thuringian Forest, saw his craft disappear after the Wende. His mother left the GDR in 1990, as the country lay on its deathbed. At that time, the region had one of the highest unemployment rates in East Germany. Many people felt uprooted in a new system that dissolved old structures and identities.

In Mutterland, Kekulé encounters people who still feel this sense of disorientation today. Their stories testify to struggles for identity and belonging, illustrating how the past continues to shape contemporary Germany. The experiences of his own family are also woven into the work—particularly the search for identity in a transformed society.

Visually, Mutterland unfolds in a deliberately chosen black-and-white aesthetic, aligning with the tradition of documentary photography. The decision for monochrome is not merely a stylistic reduction, but also references the visual coding of historical imagery. Black-and-white photography serves as a nod to classic social documentary works of the 20th century, which visualized societal change in an abstracted, timeless form. The absence of color intensifies the emotional aspects of the images—loss, alienation, and uncertainty become more pronounced, as the aesthetic reduction focuses on the essentials. At the same time, the monochrome representation creates a temporal openness—the images elude a clear placement in the present and point to a timeless dimension of collective experience.

Curator and art historian Nina Maier wrote about Mutterland:
"The theme of the work corresponds to the medium in which it is negotiated: Photography has a presence in the present, but what it makes visible belongs to the past. Mutterland is an echo of the past in the present.”

Mutterland is not only a photographic exploration of societal upheavals, but also a reflection on the nature of the medium itself. Kekulé does not aim to create a victim narrative, but rather to make experiences of loss visible while also honoring resilience.

Having grown up between East and West, socialized in both German realities, the years of reunification shaped not only Kekulé’s mother but also himself. Mutterland is therefore also a search for the roots of his own identity.

Exhibition view: 2023, Mutterland, „East from where“, Studio Hanniball, Berlin | © Xiaofu Wang

Exhibition view: 2024, Mutterland, "Signals" Kunsthalle Konstanz | © Torben Nüdling

Exhibition view: 2023, Mutterland, „East from where“, Studio Hanniball, Berlin | © Xiaofu Wang

A short essay by curator and art historian Nina Maier (Kunstmuseum Thurgau) on Mutterland:

The ongoing series Mutterland, which began in 2019, is Michél Kekulé's thesis project.

Set in the eastern German province, in a town in Thuringia, to which Michél Kekulé, as a "post-reunification child," has a personal connection, the black-and-white photographs exude a quiet, slightly melancholic atmosphere.

They depict portraits of places, spaces, and people from the former GDR and draw attention to the impact of history on the present. The 1990s and 2000s were characterized by promises of 'blooming landscapes' and hopes that were not fulfilled after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Many regions were or are in decline.

In the media, as a result of unemployment and missed opportunities for reunification, there was talk of the so-called 'baseball bat years'. This hashtag was established in 2019 by journalist Christian Bangel, under which a collection of memories quickly emerged on Twitter. Reports accumulated of right-wing violence in the post-reunification years. These retrospective accounts made it clear that these were not isolated experiences, but rather a generational experience.

Mutterland is a kind of socio-documentary portrait of a society that hovers somewhere between past and future. Michél Kekulé captures the current state of this place in Thuringia, reflecting on the influence of reunification to this day. Although German reunification was over 30 years ago, there is still often a distinction made between West and East Germany in public discourse. There are still economic, social, and structural differences between the old and new federal states. The term "Wendeverlierer" (losers of reunification) is used.

Against this background, Mutterland functions like a visual inventory, reflecting the status quo but at the same time making visible something that has long since passed.

In the images of Mutterland, a sense of loss and the search for identity is palpable. It echoes the memory of a country that no longer exists but has certainly left its mark and shaped its people. The work deals with the inheritance of losses and traumas across generations and raises the question of how history is processed and passed on.

In this respect, the theme of the work also corresponds to photography, the medium in which it is negotiated: It has, like photography itself, a presence in the present, but at the same time, what it makes visible belongs to the past. In the case of Mutterland, the relationship between the layers of time is even more acute because the series shows something that was no longer there at the time of capture but is still visible and tangible.

Mutterland is, so to speak, an echo of the past in the present.