Photography exhibition in Vienna

photo: Angela Breda		IMAGE OF MAN - Photographs of people with disabilities. Past and Present. The Photography School Vienna and the **Lebenshilfe Vienna invite you to the exhibition 'IMAGE OF MAN' in the PhotoQuarter Vienna**, housed in the Schlössl-Kino. The works captured by the students from the Photography School along with those produced in the 1960’s by the Austrian photographer Harry Weber at Steinhof, document how the world’s perception of people with learning difficulties has changed over the last half a century. Mag. Markus Hippmann, Head of the Photography School Vienna, summarizes the motivation behind the photography exhibition 'IMAGE OF MAN', “We are showing the artistic outcome of our collaboration with the clients from the ‘Lebenshilfe Vienna’, in doing so we are opening up space for the topic ‘disability’, and there by raising awareness of the needs of people with disabilities.”

photo: Markus Hippmann		At the centre of the project are people with special needs. The general perception of people with disabilities has changed considerably within the past 50 years. Persecuted and hidden away in psychiatric institutions during the times of National Socialism, nowadays people with disabilities stand and participate as independent members of society. In April 2011 the Photography School Vienna started working together with *Lebenshilfe Vienna. The students of the Photography School Vienna photographed people with learning difficulties within their current everyday environments, in the workshops and theresidential homes of the Lebenshilfe Vienna*. The resulting empathetic photographs illustrate how people with disabilities nowadays can go through life with self-assurance. In contrast, the photographs from the famous Austrian photographer Harry Weber, who in the 1960’s photographed patients of the psychiatric clinic at Steinhof, show the different standards of living people with mental disabilities experienced 50 years ago. The photographs from Harry Weber have been made available to view by the image archive of the Austrian National Library.

photo: Angelika Löffler		Exhibiting photographers: Harry Weber Angela Breda Angelika Löffler Dagmar Pratsch Markus Hippmann Martina Schildendorfer Michaela Leuthner Nikki Harris Sonja Bachmayer Photography exhibition in PhotoQuarter Vienna Schlössl Kino, Margaretenstraße 127, 1050 Vienna Opening Hours: November 28-December 15, 2011 (except December 8, 2012) Monday to Thuryday: 4 pm-6 pm Admission free return to overview