In 2015, Dieter Mammel witnessed the arrival of the first Syrian refugees on the Greek island of Kos. In the years that followed, the Berlin-based painter explored the story of his own family's flight, the sense of displacement that came with it, and the new beginning in another country. The exhibition tour LIFELINE, which traces the course of the family's life, with the accompanying catalogue shows the pictures created as part of this exploration and examines the themes of origin, flight, and memory as timeless constants of human experience.

Mammel paints with watercolour on unprimed, wet canvas. The focus is always on just one colour, on light and shadow. It almost seems as if the motifs were dissolving - and with them time and memory. Mammel tries to capture them with his brush. His pictures bear witness to the difficulty of this endeavour, but also to the necessity and beauty of the attempt in and of itself.

Text in English and German.

About the Author

Dieter Mammel was born in 1965 in Reutlingen in southern Germany. He is the eldest son of Bernd Mammel from Kloestitz/Cleastita, Romania, today Vesela Dolyna, Ukraine and Ingeborg Mammel from Franzfeld/Kacarevo, Yugoslavia, today Serbia. Dieter Mammel studied painting at the State Art Academies in Stuttgart and Berlin from 1986-91, graduating as a master student. The "Villa Serpentara Scholarship" from the Academy of Arts in Berlin took him to Italy in 1991 and 1993. From 1997 to 2002 he taught painting and art history at the Mediadesign Academy in Berlin. He received the studio scholarship from the Berlin Cultural Senate in 1995 and 2000, the Karl Hofer scholarship from 1998 to 2000 and a studio from the Cultural Office of the City of Frankfurt from 2007 to 2012. Since 2013 he has had a studio at AtelierFrankfurt e.V. His refugee project Show me where you come from took place in 2015 and 2016 in cooperation with the Haus am Waldsee, a place for contemporary art in Berlin, the World Culture Museum in Frankfurt am Main and the House of History Foundation of the Federal Republic of Germany. He works as a painter, wood cutter and filmmaker in Berlin and Frankfurt am Main.

Book Information
ISBN 9783735609793
Author DZM Donauschwabisches Zentralmuseum Ulm
Format Hardback
Page Count 160
Imprint Kerber Verlag
Publisher Kerber Verlag