5070

Kurt Hörbst
5070

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fotohof edition
texts by Alexandra Grill, Kurt Hörbst
graphic design: Alexandra Grill, Kurt Hörbst
German English
2013, Hardcover
24 x 30 cm, 72 pages
28 bw + 1 color plates
edition: 350
€ 25
ISBN 978-3-902675-91-0

Photographer and father-to-be Kurt Hörbst used his large-format camera to follow his wife at close range during her pregnancy. The reportage-like photographs taken in different locations seem strange given the slow pace of the medium, depicting an almost filmic sequence that addresses issues such as loneliness, uncertainty and joyful anticipation, unrest and calm, curiosity, anxiety and pride. In a flurry of colour snapshots towards the end of the book, 5070 resolves itself as the new-born baby’s weight.

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Die Kamera auf eine Person zu richten,
die man zu kennen glaubt – ist das objektiv?
Auf die Frau, in der das Persönlichste heranwächst,
das ein Leben einem Mann bieten kann – ist das notwendig?
Sekunden während der Begleitung einer Mutterwerdung in
Fotografien zu bannen – kann das ausreichen?
Blicke durch die Linse, die das Rundherum ertasten,
sich nie restlos annähern können – ist das legitim?
Vielleicht. Vermutlich ist es nur der Fotograf in mir,
der versucht sich zu artikulieren.
Oder der Partner und Vater,
der suchend durch diese Zeit stolpert.
Unzulänglich allemal.

Kurt Hörbst
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Focusing the camera on someone
you think you know – is that objective?
On a woman who has growing inside her the most
personal thing life can offer a man – is that necessary?
Seconds of companionship along the way to motherhood,
retained in photographs – can that ever be enough?
Views through the lens that probe all that is around,
never able to get really close – is that legitimate?
Perhaps. Perhaps it’s just the
photographer inside me trying to express himself.
Or the partner and father searching
and stumbling his way through this phase.
Inadequate, always.

Kurt Hörbst
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