Karin Powser

Karin Powser (born July 19, 1948 ) is a German photographer who lives in Hanover .

Life

Karin Powser was homeless between 1971 and 1984 and lived on the streets during this time. Karin Powser has had an apartment in Hanover again since 1984. She has been a volunteer in the contact shop "Mecki" since it was founded in April 1985. The "Mecki" is a contact point for homeless people in the underground pedestrian zone Niki-de-Saint-Phalle-Promenade under Hanover Central Station , open for hours on a few mornings during the week. In 1986 she started taking photos again.

“The reason that I was given the task of creating photo documentation about the problems of the homeless is probably due to the fact that I took a lot of photos before, even during my homelessness and drinking, and also took some good pictures with a simple pocket camera . [...] The homeless people have confidence in me, they know that I do not take sensational pictures for the press and that no cop gets to see photos of me either. "

- Powser 1989 : p. 21 f

She is co-founder and freelance photographer of the street newspaper Asphalt-Magazin, which was first published in 1994 .

Works / exhibitions

In the years between 1987 and 1993 a total of four volumes were created within the series texts inside & outside published by Hannes Kiebel .

One of her works, Housing Comfort in a New Style, was part of the DFG exhibition “Poverty - Perspectives in Art and Society” in Trier .

In 2014, works by Karin Powser were on view at the Württembergischer Kunstverein as part of an exhibition “Art in the Context of Homelessness”.

At the 2015 federal conference of the Federal Homeless Aid Association in Berlin on November 9, 2015, at 12:00 p.m., their exhibition No grace on the street. Photo works opened in 1992 and 2015 and shown for the duration of the conference. The exhibition is designed as a traveling exhibition.

Awards

In 2008, Karin Powser received the International Street Paper Award in the “Best Photo” category.

Others

Bust of Karin Powser by Harald Birk (2005)

The artist Harald Birck (* 1960) made a bust of Karin Powser as part of his project At Eye Level on behalf of the Evangelical Association of Living and Livelihood Security EFWE eV, Hanover. It was shown publicly for the first time in 2005 on the 75th Welfare Day of the German Association for Public and Private Welfare . The sculpture is now in the Lüneburg office of the Central Lower Saxony Advice Center , Heiligengeiststr. 31, 21335 Lüneburg.

Works

• With Thomas Kurek: Lebensorte: Photographien , 2001
• Homeless - no mercy on the street. Photographs. Texts Inside & Outside, Issue 6, 1993. Ed .: Hannes Kiebel.
• Old and poor - from living and surviving on the street. Photographs , 1991. Texts Inside & Outside, Ed .: Hannes Kiebel.
• Women on the street. Texts and Photos 1989 , Texts Inside & Outside, Ed .: Hannes Kiebel.
• In Hanover: on streets and squares. Thoughts and Photos , 1987, Texts Inside & Outside, Ed .: Hannes Kiebel.

literature

• Christine Swientek : The desolate life of Karin P. , Reinbek near Hamburg, 1986

Web links

Commons : Karin Powser  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Short biography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Contact shop "Mecki"
2. ↑ Team Asphalt ( Memento of the original from May 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ↑ NDR / Volker Macke: "'Asphalt' is used as an answer and an offer". Accessed January 1, 2020 . 
4. ^ Exhibition Poverty - Perspectives in Art and Society
5. ↑ Exhibition opening No mercy on the street
6. ↑ Excellent
7. ↑ Project at eye level