Evelyn Richter’s portrayal of East German life is both critical and empathic, consistently focusing attention on the human actors she observes.

She saw her artistic documentary work as a counter to the politically charged images of the time. The book presents the artist’s main groups of works, from the early days of her photographic activity in the 1950s through to end of the 1980s. It also includes photographs from Richter’s archive that have only recently been made publicly accessible. The archive juxtaposes the theme of “labour” as a visual motif with reportage photography as paid work.

The book’s production is a cooperation between the Kunstpalast Düsseldorf and the Evelyn Richter Archive held by the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung in the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK) Leipzig.