I have been working on the “Portraits of Life” for more than a year now and they got me to far-flung places of Germany. I got to know people and I learned about fates that have enriched my life a lot. Therefore, I would like to thank all those people that I was allowed to take pictures of, people that trusted me and that let me so close to themselves.
The illustrated stories were actually intended for a permanent, internal exhibition for GSK employees only. They should show who the employees work for day by day. But then we learned about the enthralling and fiery stories behind the scenes.
With the help of the initiative by Dr. Thomas Werner I am now able to share these stories with a broad audience. I am very happy about that and I thank the management of GlaxoSmithKline and particularly Claudia Kubacki for their confidence and their support. I would also like to thank my assistant Nils Muhl and the team of officethirtysix for the creative and constructive cooperation.
Götz Schwan
Previous exhibitions
13 April - 30 April 2010, Stadtbibliothek Herrenberg
12 October - 11 November 2009, Städtisches Klinikum Solingen
6 October - 3 November 2008, Universityclinic city of Luebeck
21 June - 25 July 2008, Techniker Krankenkasse in Hamburg
16 May - 19 June 2008, Hühnerposten in Hamburg
10 November - 28 November 2007, Zollernhof in Berlin
Further exhibitions are planned.
Introduction by Dr. Thomas Werner
Day by day the employees of GlaxoSmithKline passionately put their services into helping patients. But who are these patients, who are these people that we work for? Which fears were they confronted with when they heard their diagnosis? What were their hopes, their wishes? And how do these people live today? Those are the questions that we were interested in. They got the ball of this initiative rolling.
We set off to find answers. We were confronted with sorrows, fears and desperation, but also confidence and thankfulness. We got to know people that openly told us about how they handled their diseases and they granted us insight into their lives. So the topic was quickly found: “Portraits of Life”.
State as of yesterday and mood as of today – every person we talked to developed motives that reflect their feelings towards the disease and health. Those personal feelings were empathetically documented by three photos respectively by Götz Schwan.
Being a research-driven pharmaceutical company we contribute to easing suffering and advancing life. And it makes us proud when an effective therapy or vaccination gives people a more positive outlook on their lives. In this photographic project the story of the individual is the main focus, not our research successes.
Those photos have really touched me. The power, the courage and the will to live that they reflect might inspire people that are in similar situations. This fact was one of the reasons why people took part in the initiative. We are very happy that we can show those photos to a broad audience now – they were actually only intended to be shown internally.
With the exhibition as well as the publication of the “Portraits of Life” we would like to initiate a public discourse. In order to find an answer in the search for health care that, in the first place, cares about the interests of the patients.
We look forward to your contribution at www.lebensbilder.de.
Dr. Thomas Werner
General Manager until 12/2008
GlaxoSmithKline Germany
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Exhibition opening speech of Bishop Dr. Huber
- Chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany -
Exhibition opening speech in the Zollernhof, Berlin on November 12, 2007
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Foreword by Wolfgang Behnken
Disease. The suffering is kept hidden and nearly doesn’t play a role at all in public pictures. Too much realism could destroy our wellbeing.
Our picture of ourselves in the media is full of vitality, joy of life and the belief in the invulnerability of our body. Health and fitness are highly regarded and sought-after in our society and they are an entry ticket to fortune, power, reputation and influence.
On the contrary, disease is weakness and it has no face. This instantaneously changes when we look into the eyes of a loved one who is forced by fate to stay in sickbed – or when we get sick ourselves. We quickly and painfully have to learn that weakness is part of our human existence.
Neither for the employees of the pharmaceutical industry has the patient a face. He or she is a symptom, a diagnosis, an unknown creature. GlaxoSmithKline and Götz Schwan can take credit for providing us with faces for the diseases.
Asthma is no longer just a disease of the respiratory tract but it is also the face and fate of Janine Schmechel, who does not need to fear suffocation anymore. She can now happily enjoy jogging in her free time.
Leukemia is the face of Alissa, who at the age of four worried her parents with her cry for help “Mommy, my legs can hardly carry me anymore”. The diagnosis leukemia hung like a sword of Damocles above the family. Today, Alissa can enjoy the untroubled life of an adolescent girl.
It must be a great feeling for GSK employees to see who they work for. And they can be proud when therapy helps leading a painless, self-determined life.
Even though the photos reflect severe forms of suffering Götz Schwan was able to show Portraits of Life that are encouraging. Photos that are balanced on the thin line between kitsch and insincere consternation on the one side and real sympathy on the other. They never fall into the abyss of false metaphors. Photos that, in the form of a triptych, empathetically and unpretentiously tell the stories of people. Stories that give us courage and that ease our fear should we someday also be faced with an uncomfortable diagnosis.
Conclusion: GSK had a great idea and Götz Schwan did a great job of realizing it.
Wolfgang Behnken
Art Director, Funk und Behnken
Hamburg, November 2007
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Acknowledgement by Götz Schwan
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CV Götz Schwan
Götz Schwan, born in 1960, started his career as an assistant to Volker Krieger and Reinhart Wolf. He made a name of himself through photo articles for magazines such as Stern, MAX or ROLLING STONE and he shot international advertising campaigns. Now, photo articles with and about authentic people “from the street“ are his favorite themes; his expertly staged portrait photography is unique. Götz Schwan lives in Schleswig-Holstein. He is married and has four children.
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