Max Herrmann-Neiße
This series emerged as a continuation of the earlier Trakl cycle. While that body of work relied more heavily on fragments, isolated body parts and an almost disintegrating visual language, the focus here shifts more clearly toward the body as a whole — not as a classical nude, but as a carrier of inner states.
The images are based on poems by Max Herrmann-Neiße, a German Expressionist poet who remains largely unknown outside the German-speaking world. His poems possess a peculiar combination of vulnerability, existential darkness and quiet precision. They do not shout. They work through condensation, inner tension and an almost hesitant use of language. Much of their effect also lies in their sound and rhythm — especially in subtle alliterations and recurring tonal structures that are difficult to translate without losing part of their atmosphere.
This directly influenced the formal approach of the series: less fragmentation, less dissolution, more bodily presence within shadow.
The writing on the body was executed once again in Kurrent, a historical German cursive handwriting style that was officially taught in schools until 1941 — and therefore also the script in which Max Herrmann-Neiße himself wrote. Outside German-speaking countries, Kurrent is now largely unfamiliar and often difficult to read even for native speakers. Its broken lines, swelling strokes and unusual forms differ strongly from modern handwriting or typography. Because of this, it appears less like conventional text and more like a trace, an inscription or a fading memory. Language becomes not merely readable, but part of the photographic form itself.
Max Herrmann-Neiße was born in Neisse in 1886 and is considered one of the important German-language poets of Expressionism. A severe physical deformation made him an outsider from an early age. Many of his poems carry the experience of estrangement, vulnerability and homelessness — not as simple self-pity, but as an existential condition. In 1933, due to both his political views and his Jewish background, he was forced into exile in England, where he died in 1941.
It is precisely this combination of longing, darkness and fragile intimacy that makes his poetry still feel strikingly contemporary today.
Corpus Scriptum II–I — Der Zauberkünstler (The Magician)
„das Sein enthüllt“
(“reveals existence”)
The first image of the series opens with an almost theatrical use of light. The body appears less as an individual person than as a figure suspended between visibility and projection. The diagonal band of light functions almost like a cut through darkness — or like the brief moment in which something hidden becomes visible.
The poem Der Zauberkünstler belongs to those works by Herrmann-Neiße that create atmosphere rather than narrative. It circles around illusion, transformation and the fragile boundary between appearance and reality. The line “das Sein enthüllt” carries an almost metaphysical weight, as though something deeper briefly emerges from beneath the visible world.
Corpus Scriptum II–II — Ein sehr ungezogenes Sonett (A Very Naughty Sonnet)
„ihr seid wie Puppen“
(“you are like puppets”)
The body posture and fragmented light create an atmosphere somewhere between theatre, manipulation and inner alienation. The human figure no longer appears autonomous, but trapped within invisible movements and expectations. The words feel less written than imprinted.
Despite its almost ironic title, the poem itself carries a deep bitterness and exhaustion. The line “ihr seid wie Puppen” describes human beings as creatures repeating gestures and roles without fully understanding themselves anymore. It is precisely this mixture of sharpness and weariness that gives the text its unsettling force.
Corpus Scriptum II–III — Ein Licht geht nach dem andern aus (One Light After Another Goes Out)
„und immer dunkler wird mir die Welt“
(“and my world grows darker still”)
This image works more strongly with dissolution and retreat. The face nearly disappears into shadow, while individual parts of the body remain only fleetingly visible. Darkness is not used here as a dramatic effect, but as a psychological space.
The poem itself describes no sudden collapse, but a gradual extinguishing. Hope, intimacy and orientation do not vanish all at once, but light by light. This quiet form of despair is typical of Herrmann-Neiße. His poems rarely scream — and often become more devastating because of that restraint.
Corpus Scriptum II–IV — Heimatlos (Homeless)
„und wissen nicht, dass wir ihr Schatten sind“
(“and do not know that we are its shadows”)
Unlike the other works, this image still retains traces of face and humanity. The figure seems suspended between presence and disappearance. Light and writing become fragile remnants of a consciousness only slowly becoming aware of its own shadow-like existence.
Heimatlos is one of the poems in which biographical experience and existential dimension overlap most strongly. Homeland appears not merely as a geographical place, but as an inner condition of belonging that has been lost. The line “und wissen nicht, dass wir ihr Schatten sind” speaks of a form of alienation that reaches far beyond political exile.
Corpus Scriptum II–V — Wie einsam lassen mich die bunten Straßen (How Lonely the Colourful Streets Leave Me)
„verbannt in mich“
(“banished into myself”)
The series concludes with a condensed, almost sculptural form. The body withdraws into itself while the remaining trace of light becomes little more than the final residue of external perception. The image feels less like a conclusion than like a slow fading away.
The poem itself also revolves around isolation in the midst of the world. The “colourful streets” do not represent vitality, but an external reality that no longer offers true connection. The words “verbannt in mich” describe a retreat that is not voluntary, but resembles a form of inner exile.