We are Love
All of Us. It's what we're made of.
The feel good photography of Cole Ramstad and Anna Bonnet.
All Images © RamstadBonnet 2012 unless otherwise noted.
RamstadBonnet@gmail.com
-
Sven.
Sven Pohl shared with me:
A sunshine dip at a nude beach attached to a beautiful lake. A party in a giant drained pool, complete with a dance party in the rain. Berlin by bike. There’s something special about riding along the line that was once the Berlin wall. Amsterdam. Creating our own party with a guitar and You Are Beautiful stickers as we meandered down one narrow, cobblestoned street after the other, meeting friends and making smiles. That was amazing actually. We left the car outside the city, so everything we brought we had for the long the haul. The guitar made us fans and put beers in our hands. Amsterdam was a whirlwind of fun.
If not for Sven, I never would have visited the squatted building deep in East Berlin. The one with the great stop sign basketball hoop. It was tucked behind a giant old church that lives now as a giant art gallery. It wasn’t quite as big, but it was substantial, and built out of the same tan bricks. Factory like. Buses and vans parked in front. Art all over the walls in the courtyard. Before we went in, one of the three men sitting on the bumper of a big van yelled at me to put my camera away. “It wasn’t a zoo.” He withdrew his anger a little, realizing he was a little short with us, and that we meant no harm. I smiled apologetically and politely obliged, but am disappointed I don’t get to share what the insides of these walls were like. No space. Just art. Graffiti and murals, but mostly murals. Pure, honest, from the soul kind of stuff. It was beautiful. Out there. Surprisingly sharp.
Walking through the halls, a little weary now, after being snapped at, I knew now why he didn’t want my camera there. This wasn’t a public space. This was someone’s home. Walking through parts of the halls was like walking through someone’s living room. We had been to the Tacheles, an incredible building housing artist’s studios and shops that has been public and on the scene for decades now, and besides the amazing art, this place felt nothing like it.
Sebastian and his compatriots still sat on the bumper as we made our way out. We sat for an hour, had beers, and discussed art, cities, travel, this building, and the pizza oven they were building. Sebastian is from Italy. A very passionate and talented artist, as evidenced by his work in the building, his view on where the best new art was coming out of was simple. It was there. Berlin. There was nowhere else on Earth that people were producing such engaging, distinct,fresh work. Period.
Based on what I’d seen, I had agree.
More stories from Berlin, and more motion via Sven and his loves to come.
For now, ze German:
