Women at Work

Text by Helga Paris. Interview by Oliver Zybok
Book format: thread-sewn linen-bound printed and embossed hardcover
120 pages illustrated with 49 black-and-white photographs
Bilingual (German / English)
7.75 x 10.5 in (20 x 26,5 cm)
Publication date: 22.03.2022

Press:
“Factory girls: Helga Paris’s Women at Work – in pictures,” The Guardian
“Helga Paris,” The Prisma
“Women at Work,” Tank Magazine
“Helga Paris,” The Eye of Photography

The themes and motifs in Helga Paris’ photographs are ordinary and quotidian, but – in their stillness – convey the utmost tenderness.

The publication Helga Paris: Women at Work will make the most important series of the German photographer Helga Paris accessible to a broad international audience. With a unique sensibility, her photographs chronicle the everyday life of her times through images of people and spaces. For the series Women at the Clothing Factory VEB Treffmodelle Berlin Paris spent several weeks at a state-owned clothing factory in 1984. During this time, she shot more than 1.500 photographs from which she chose just 50 powerful images. By gaining close familiarity with female workers and their environment, she produced touching portraits that reflect the serenity and beauty of the sitters in brief moments of tranquility.

Helga Paris (born 1938 in Goleniów, Poland) is a German photographer. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Akademie der Künste and Between Bridges in Berlin, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Kunsthalle Malmoe, and the Tate Modern in London. In 2004 she was awarded the Hannah-Hoech-Preis, in 2019 she was awarded the Cultural Prize of the German Photographic Association (DGPh).