Image: Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama
The Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama is presenting 'Unprecedented Light in a No Longer Existing Country: East Germany’s Women Photographers', a survey that brings together work by 15 women photographers from the former German Democratic Republic. The exhibition is on view from June 13 to August 30, 2026, at the museum’s Hayama and Kamakura locations, and it draws attention to artistic practices that the museum says were long overlooked in German photographic history.
According to the museum, the exhibition focuses on how these photographers looked at society and daily life during the period when Germany was divided, and in the years that followed reunification. The project centers on works from the East German era while also including later pieces, among them recent video works, to show the continuing range of the artists’ practices. The museum frames the presentation as a reassessment of women’s role in photography in and around East Germany, rather than as a historical overview limited to one period.
The show includes work by Tina Bara, Christine Becker, Sibylle Bergemann, Christiane Eisler, Margit Emmrich, Eva Mahn, Ute Mahler, Elisabeth Meinke, Helga Paris, Evelyn Richter, Gundula Schulze Eldowy, Maria Sewcz, Gabriele Stötzer, Brigitte Voigt and Renate Zeun. Among them, Gabriele Stötzer is specifically highlighted in the museum’s announcement. The selection also includes vintage prints from the collection managed by the Reinbeckhallen Foundation, based on the holdings of Berlin collector Sven Hermann.
The museum says the exhibition is built around that private collection and is the first time these works have been shown in Japan. It presents photographs from the former East Germany alongside reference material, including publications from the period, to reflect the artists’ varied approaches. The source materials also note that the exhibition includes new work by some of the artists, with examples credited as 1979/2025, 1985/2025 and 1985–87/2026, indicating later editions or presentations alongside the original photographs.
Several works are identified in the museum’s materials, including Christiane Eisler’s 'Heike' from 1982, Margit Emmrich’s 'Untitled, Prague' from 1969, Sibylle Bergemann’s 'Anette and Angela, Lustgarten, Berlin' from 1982 and 'Monument, Berlin, February 1986' from 1986, and Brigitte Voigt’s 'Siblings' from 1964. Other highlighted works include Eva Mahn’s 'Shadow Theater II' from 1983, Ute Mahler’s 'Fashion Photograph: Yulia in Water, Ränitz' from 1979/2025, Tina Bara’s 'Self-Portrait 59–76' from 1985/2025, and Gabriele Stötzer’s 'Women Poet—Poetry' from 1984/2025.
The museum has also programmed several public events alongside the exhibition. These include a cross-artist talk with Ishikawa Miyako at the Goethe-Institut Tokyo on June 20, a guest talk with Michiko Kasahara on July 11 at the Hayama museum hall, and a cross-artist talk with Tina Bara and Maria Sewcz on July 20 at Hayama. Two screenings of the documentary film 'Women of Defiance — East Germany' are scheduled for July 25 and August 22, both at the Hayama museum hall. Curator talks are set for July 12 and August 1 in the exhibition rooms.
In the exhibition room 4, Tina Bara’s video work 'Long Boredom' is shown on a loop. The museum notes that the 2016 HD video runs 62 minutes, includes sound and has Japanese and English subtitles. The exhibition runs through August 30, 2026, at the Museum of Modern Art, Kamakura & Hayama.
