"Algerische Wüste"

gelatin silver print

signed, titled, dated and numbered

German photographer and collector Horst Hahn originally trained as a plumber and heating engineer, then studied restoration and worked in this field as a public restorer until 2002. At the same time, he devoted himself intensively to photography and his preferred field of travel photography, with a focus on Africa.
The work Algerian Desert exemplifies how Hahn understands landscape in his photographs not only as a geographical space, but also as an pictorial space. The dunes form curved lines whose plasticity is reminiscent of sculptures and at the same time evokes the impression of a reclining body.
This perspective is closely linked to Hahn's passion for collecting photography. Together with his wife Barbara, he amassed a significant collection. This collector's eye is also evident in his own work: each photograph is not only a document, but a deliberately chosen fragment, a “found object” from the world that, in its composition and effect, can be viewed like an object in a collection. Thus, the Algerian desert connects two central strands of Hahn's work: traveling and discovering in distant lands, and preserving and organizing in the spirit of a collector.
(Christoph Fuchs, translated by deepL)