Divided We Stand

Braschler/Fischer portrayed and interviewed Americans from all walks of life and professional groups and experienced the increasing division of US society in a close-up view. Urban and rural America barely show any points of contact anymore. A rift divides increasingly white and black, rich and poor, right and left, Trump fans and Biden supporters, and divides entire families. This divide marks the inner workings of the land of limitless opportunities. “Divided We Stand”, the current photo exhibition by Braschler/ Fischer at the Lechner Museum Ingolstadt, provides an up-close and authentic insight into a divided nation. The exhibition focuses on expressive Americans, whom the pair of photographers met on a four-month road trip. These people talk about the political and social changes — and the effects on their personal reality. The moving voices of the people portrayed, which accompany the viewer, allow immediate access to the stories behind the intensive images. Because the hyperreal portraits, some of which are larger than life, are authentic, raw and unfiltered — and the dominant setting size of the image section is known as “American” not just by chance in film language.

Through multimedia presentation through photo, film, original audio recordings and texts in German and English, the exhibition provides an opportunity to understand people in the USA today and the consequences of Trump's presidency so far. The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated book of the same name (Hartmann Books). Impact photographers Braschler/Fischer have received several awards for their in-depth portrait photography, including the World Press Photo Award, the Hansel-Mieth Prize and the European Publishing Award. Her work on climate and political issues is shown in museums and galleries worldwide and has been published in numerous international magazines and as books. Parallel to the photo exhibition on the upper floor of the Lechner Museum, works made of solid steel by Alf Lechner, resulting from the splitting of the material, are shown on the ground floor. Steel cylinders weighing tons, which reveal their innermost, split open by their own molecular force, are spatially related to broken steel plates or wave-shaped plates cut apart by a steel saw, which appear upright like a vertical wave. In both presentations, the inner self is revealed through the experienced division, an individual vulnerability and peculiarity is experienced by the viewer that otherwise remains hidden.