Image: Camera Work, Berlin
Camera Work will present ‘Never Forget: September 11, 2001’ in Berlin from September 5 through October 2, 2026, marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Curated by the gallery, the exhibition will bring together 40 photographic works by Thomas Hoepker, Patrick Demarchelier, Steve McCurry, Elliott Erwitt, Russell James, Pete Souza, Eugenio Recuenco and other Magnum photographers.
The exhibition will be held at Camera Work Gallery, Kantstrasse 149, in Berlin. The gallery has announced that it will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the presentation. Its website also states that the space will be closed from August 31 through September 4 for installation.
At the centre of the exhibition is Thomas Hoepker’s ‘View from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Towards Manhattan, September 11, 2001’. Camera Work describes the photograph as a widely debated image and identifies it as a central work in the exhibition. The gallery’s catalogue entry lists the work as an archival pigment print made on September 11, 2001, numbered and signed on the reverse by Hoepker, with an edition of 25 at 30 by 45 centimetres.
Hoepker’s photograph occupies a significant place in the photographer’s career and subsequent discussions of photographic representation. According to Camera Work’s biographical material, Hoepker (1936–2024) began working with photography while still young and later built his career in photojournalism through assignments for magazines and books. He worked extensively for Stern from the 1960s, later becoming the magazine’s art director, and in 1989 became the first German photographer to join Magnum as a full member. He served as the agency’s president from 2003.
The exhibition sets documentary images alongside works that approach the events through portraiture, historical association and constructed imagery. A section devoted to the World Trade Center as a photographic subject includes works by Elliott Erwitt, Hoepker and Pete Souza made in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. The gallery notes that these earlier photographs acquired additional historical and emotional significance after September 11, 2001. Among the listed works is Erwitt’s ‘New York City’ from 1979.
Eugenio Recuenco is represented by five works from his ‘365°’ cycle, including ‘11 September’ from 2018. Unlike the exhibition’s documentary positions, the gallery presents Recuenco as an image-maker working after the event rather than as an eyewitness. Portraits by Patrick Demarchelier, including ‘Robert De Niro’ from 2001, were made one month after the attacks at a charity event at New York’s Madison Square Garden. The programme will also include panel discussions and special guided tours, while selected works listed by the gallery include editions by Hoepker, Erwitt, Recuenco and Demarchelier.
