Margret Hoppe: Südwall

Rough, rocky coastal landscape with parched grasses, stony walls and bending pines in the wind – a silence emanates from these pictures at first. One seems to linger in a completely paused moment, absorbing the atmosphere of the place. Against the habits of rapid consumption, photographer Margret Hoppe forces us to pause and take a closer look, because only in this way the story opens up to us.

“Südwall” tells of a German-French past during the Second World War. Military bunkers along the entire Mediterranean coast served the Germans as a defense against the Allies. Around Marseille, the remains of the bunkers still exist and fit almost casually into the landscape. Margret Hoppe is less concerned with the object itself than with integrating it into its surroundings. In addition, the artist examines the significance of Marseille as a city of exile, which for many intellectuals and artists* served as a refuge with hope for freedom.
In her works, Margret Hoppe deals primarily with landscapes, architecture and spaces that tell unique stories. Through a precise and at the same time sensitive gaze, she manages to emphasize the independent aspects without taking possession of the scenery.
With “Südwall” Margret Hoppe documents not only the past, but at the same time the present.

Margret Hoppe (*1981 in Greiz, Thuringia) lives and works in Leipzig. From 2000-2009 she studied with Prof. Timm Rautert and Prof. Christopher Muller at the Academy of Visual Arts (HGB) Leipzig. Margret Hoppe is represented in numerous private and public collections in Germany and abroad, such as the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, the Photographic Collection of the Museum Folkwang Essen, the Fotomuseum Winterthur, the Wende Museum Los Angeles and the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK) Leipzig.
The project “Südwall” was created in 2020 with the support of the Goethe Institute Marseille, Le Garage Photographie Marseille and the Collection Regard. In the same year she is part of the “Resonance. Artists on Niemeyer”- exhibition in the Techne Sphere, Halle 9 Leipzig. In 2018 Margret Hoppe exhibited in the exhibition “Visions of Modernity Today” at the Museum of Photography Braunschweig. In recent years her works have been shown at the Kunsthaus Dresden, Künstlerhaus Bethanien Berlin and Deichtorhallen Hamburg.