Life and The Wall

I spent four years living in Berlin, Germany and I have always been fascinated by the idea of the Berlin wall. Not the historic significance of the wall – that is more than well documented – but it’s significance on the life and mentality of Berliners and Germans from both sides. My school was located in Potsdam, former East Germany, but my home was located in Mitte, former West Berlin. For four years I travelled to the former East almost daily. Although the country has long since reunified, something about the former East and the former West still feels very different. Because of this, I have always wondered how different it was when the wall was up. I have also always been fascinated and puzzled by the resentment I have heard toward “Ossis” that was widespread in West Berlin. Kids with whom I was friends who had no reason to resent former citizens of East Berlin used the term as a regular insult. Where did this come from? These were the driving questions that initiated and helped me form this project. I set out to learn what life in a Siamese city actually looked like, and how it was possible for two distant worlds to come together again