Lothar Baumgarten

For many years Lothar Baumgarten has been fascinated with the culture of the native American population. At the end of the eighties he realized the project Carbon, in which he focused on the history of native Americans in the United States by showing the infrastructure of the railroads.

Carbon consists of roughly one hundred photographs, a number of wall paintings and a book. Many railway lines, viaducts and other railroad locations bear names that are linked with native American history. While the railroads were once the very life lines for white immigrants, for the native inhabitants they signified the permanent expropriation of their territories. For the Carbon wall paintings, Lothar Baumgarten combines the names of places and railways with a typography derived from the architecture and design of the railroads. These are literally text images that have their own rhythm of sound, form and color.