Martin Roemers's Projects
Portraits of Dutch ISAF troops in Kabul, Afghanistan. The photos are made with an antique Afghan box camera which Martin Roemers borrowed of a street photographer in Kabul. The hand-made wooden construction is both camera and darkroom in one and uses black and white photographic paper instead of film. Roemers took the photos in a makeshift, open-air studio where the backdrop consisted of a black cloth hanging from a container. Sometimes holding a prop, the soldiers had to pose motionless during the 10 seconds exposure time.
The Cold War is over — yet signs of it still exist. For forty years the Iron Curtain divided the countries of Europe into East and West. The arms race was unleashed, nuclear fallout shelters were constructed, and everyone braced for the worst. Martin Roemers has spent ten years in search of the traces of this period, traveling through the countries of former enemies on both sides of the line. He explored and documented underground tunnels, abandoned system control centers, former barracks, rotting tanks, and destroyed monuments. 72 photographs. BOOK: Relics of the Cold War, Hatje Cantz Publishers. Sold out at the publisher. Available at www.martinroemers.com. EXHIBITION: German Historical Museum (DHM), Berlin, Relics of the Cold War, March 4 - August 21, 2016
METROPOLIS (84 urbanscapes) By 2050 70% of the global population will be living in cities. For his series Metropolis, Martin Roemers sets his sights on 22 megacities worldwide with more than ten million inhabitants in which people often live under difficult circumstances in densely populated areas.. Roemers presents 80 urbanscapes from a slightly elevated perspective, and in doing so calls our attention to the stress that this lifestyle involves as well as the admirable resilience of the countless people who lead this life day in and day out. Metropolis is photographed with an analogue camera. BOOK: Martin Roemers: Metropolis. Hatje Cantz Publishers, hardcover, 27 x 34 cm., 144 pages, 84 photos in color. Introductions by Ricky Burdett, Azu Nwagbogu, and Els Barents. EXHIBITION: Huis Marseille - Museum for Photography, Amsterdam, Metropolis (2007-2015), December 12, 2015 - March 6, 2016.