Barely discernible men’s faces behind a milky pane of glass: the contours are blurred, the facial features vague. Berlin-based artist Loredana Nemes (*1972 in Sibiu, Romania) uses a Linhof plate camera to take photographs of Berlin’s world of men in Turkish, oriental, and Arabian men’s cafés in districts such as Neukölln, Kreuzberg, or Wedding. Her initial inspiration for this work stems from the period of six months she lived in Shiraz in Iran at the age of twelve. Deeply curious about this strange, fascinating culture, she approaches places where she, as a woman, is not allowed to go. “I photograph their outer membrane, which merely suggests an outline of their inner world and visualizes the separation between worlds,” says Nemes. This photographic dialogue has given rise to portraits of Ali, Ünal, Kemal, or Rasim that reveal boundaries, both cultural and visual.
 
Exhibition schedule: Galerie Baukunst, Cologne, June 30–August 28, 2010 | Schloss Neuhardenberg, Neuhardenberg, August 8–October, 2010 | Museum Neukölln, Berlin, November 20, 2010–February 20, 2011