Rechtes Land
Julius Schien
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Since the reunification in 1990, over 200 people died because of right-wing violence in Germany. Over 200 street corners, residential buildings, and recreational areas. Over 200 fates that briefly make it into the press and of which we as a society briefly take note of and then forget again. Where are these places? Do we pass by these places day after day without being aware of their significance? Is there anything left to remind us of the victims and the crimes that often made national headlines? Or are the fates lost in everyday triviality? Julius Schien addresses these questions in his project »Rechtes Land«. He devotes himself to over three decades of right-wing
violence in Germany in order to show how deeply rooted right-wing crimes still are in Germany, creating a hitherto unique visual catalogue of these crime scenes in the process.
The empty stages take over, on which these acts of right-wing violence took place. In deserted large-format photographs and their accompanying texts, the stories of more than 200 victims of right-wing extremism are being told, in the hope of getting people to look and engage with cases of right-wing violence. Many of the
cases took place over 20, sometimes 30 years ago and are regularly missing from the collective memory of our society. It is the interlude between the photographs of these places, often trapped in their banality, and the accompanying texts that is intended to make people think and look.
The goal is to photographically document all the places where people have lost their lives to right-wing extremism since 1990 and to create a unique reference work of these fates and their locations. The intentions behind this are clear: to create a greater awareness of right-wing extremism in our society and to enter into a dialog with people who want to inform themselves. Above all of this is the recognition of those people who have lost their lives through right-wing violence.
Germany has once again an immense problem with right-wing extremism. Right-wing ideas, anti-democratic sentiments and right-wing extremist violence are once again present at all levels of our society.
It is time to take a closer look.
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Julius Schien came to photography in his late 20s and studied documentary photography at Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts.
In his photography, he is primarily looking for answers to the question of what it means to confront Germany's political legacy and the country's right-wing continuity in the 21st century. In doing so, he aims to highlight long-forgotten stories of right-wing violence that lie beneath the surface of everyday life in seemingly sombre landscape and city portraits. His works are created on analog large format.
For three years now, he has been working on the research and realization of his long-term project »Rechtes Land«, in which he documents all the actual places where people have died through acts of right-wing violence since the German reunification.
The publication fund of the Kulturwerk Foundation supports the conception and realization of the visual archive. Furthermore, the work was awarded an Honourable Mention in the Swiss »TruePicture« funding program in 2023 and received »Best Portfolio 2024« at the Open Portfolio Walk at Deichtorhallen Hamburg. Schien is also part of the »Masterclass On Documentary Photography 2024/2025« at the PhMuseum in Bologna, Italy.
Julius lives and works in Hanover, Germany.