GÜNTER ZINT, ENNO KAUFHOLD ST. PAULI 1965-1985

One neighborhood, St. Pauli. Two gazes, the participant’s and the observer’s. Two photographic approaches, one public, the other concealed. Two photographers, Günter Zint and Enno Kaufhold.

Famous photographer Günter Zint (b. 1941) lived in Hamburg for decades and started documenting every aspect of St. Pauli’s district from the inside in the 1960s. A journalist, a photographer, an activist, a member of an intentional community, Günter Zint’s life is intrinsically linked to the one of St. Pauli. His photographic archives of the neighborhood immerse us into the action of Hamburg’s mythic district and behind the scene of the red light business.

Enno Kaufhold (b. 1944), a freelance photographer, photo historian, journalist, lecturer and curator, was also living in Hamburg from the mid-1960s to the fall of the Wall when he moved to Berlin. Equipped with a hidden camera, he strolled St. Pauli willing to convey what he was witnessing in the most candid way possible.

Bringing together these two photographic collections into a single exhibition, Fotogalerie Friedrichshain invites you to rediscover St. Pauli. From the Beatles’ debut on the stage of Star Club to the life in Reeperbahn’s brothels to movie-like street or bar scenes, the exhibition navigates between light and darkness, a documentary stance and sparks of raw beauty, to meet the women and men who have made the history of this district.