Odysseus

Photo series about decommissioned and now flooded opencast coal mines in Lower Lusatia

At the start of the 2000s I did a photo series with my father about the local decommissioned opencast mines.

There were huge changes happening in the area and the remains of the former mining infrastructure was to be scrapped and the eerie landscape flooded (now the part of the Lusatian Lakeland, Europe's largest artificial water landscape).

My father played Odysseus in Kim Nørrevig's play at the theatre Neue Bühne Senftenberg at the time. With my father in costume we travelled around the local area to explore, play and document.

Parts of the mining machinery were later restored and preserved as part of the industrial heritage, like the F60 conveyor bridge.

With many thanks to Steffen Rasche for the support.

  • Black and white photograph of a man hiding between stacked old rails and sleepers. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a small man trying to climb a huge wall of overburden. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a man swaying, having reached the top of a vast empty landscape. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a man balancing on an old rusty pipe. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a man riding on an old piece of machinery brandishing a rusty, hammer-like tool. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a tiny man sitting underneath a huge old metal-framed conveyor bridge. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a man sitting in a small conveyor between excavator buckets. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a tiny man trying to push a huge excavator bucket wheel. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.
  • Black and white photograph of a man resting within a metal framework of a large machine. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and has a grey wooly hat in his hands.
  • Black and white photograph of a man walking along a conveyor belt. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and has a grey wooly hat in his hand.
  • Black and white photograph of a man standing inside a bucket of a huge excavator bucket wheel. He is looking into the vast landscape.
  • Black and white photograph of a man jumping across a rut in a vast empty landscape. The man is wearing a white shirt with a black vest, black trousers and a grey wooly hat.