Following more than forty years of photographic storytelling of Jewish life around the world, the internationally acclaimed photographer Frédéric Brenner has spent the last three years exploring Berlin, a stage for a vast spectrum of expressions and performances of Judaism.

His new photographic essay, ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES, portrays individuals – newcomers, old timers, converts, immigrants and others – who have made Berlin their home or are just passing through. Via a series of fragmentary insights into this incubator of paradoxes and dissonances, he reflects on conflicting narratives of redemption.

In ZERHEILT he seeks to transcend banal representations and bring forth a different imagery. Offering a fresh take on issues and people in and around the Jewish-German story, he critically examines prevailing ideas and conceptions in order to explore new perspectives.

Frédéric Brenner’s images evolve from extensive research, observation, and many, many conversations. To him, taking pictures means, first and foremost, encounters with individuals to whom he offers space to (re)present themselves.

The Jewish Museum Berlin will premiere ZERHEILT: HEALED TO PIECES starting September 2021.

We would like to thank the Friends of the Jewish Museum Berlin for purchasing the photographic essay for the JMB collection.