In pictures: Wim Wenders by the side of the road

  • Published

An exhibition of photographs by Wim Wenders, Time Capsules. By the side of the road, brings together images of Germany and America.

Contemplation, Denver, Colorado, 1982Image source, Wim Wenders
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Contemplation, Denver, Colorado, 1982

Wenders' poignant images of desolate landscapes explore themes of movement and travel, alongside those of memory, time, loss and nostalgia.

Cisco Post Office 2003, 2015Image source, Wim Wenders
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Cisco Post Office, 2003

Wenders said: "I see myself as an interpreter, as a translator, a guardian, if you want, of stories that places tell me.

"I became who I was on the road. I became a filmmaker, when I found out that road movies were my genre. I felt like a fish in the water when I discovered that there was a kind of film that you could actually make as you were travelling."

Forest in Brandenburg, 2014Image source, Wim Wenders
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Forest in Brandenburg, 2014

Cowboy Bar, Paris, Texas 2001Image source, Wim Wenders
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Cowboy Bar, Paris, Texas, 2001

"And as a photographer, it is even more obvious that my principal vocation was to discover places where I had not been before.

"As I can't transport people to those places in the world that I found and liked, photography gives me a chance to take the places to them."

Drive-in, Marfa, Texas, 1983Image source, Wim Wenders
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Drive-in, Marfa, Texas, 1983

The prints in the exhibition are large, often 3-4m (9-13ft) in size.

Wenders said: "I want people to become immersed in my places, stand there with me and be as impressed as I was initially."

Sauerkraut Factory, 2006Image source, Wim Wenders
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Sauerkraut Factory, 2006

Asparagus Field, 2014Image source, Wim Wenders
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Asparagus Field, 2014

The Elbe River near Domitz, 2014Image source, Wim Wenders
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The Elbe River near Domitz, 2014

By the Side of the Road, 2015Image source, Wim Wenders
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By the Side of the Road, 2015

This latest panorama, at 4.5m in width, depicts the epic landscape of the American West - an area that Wenders has extensively and famously examined through both film and photography.

"I think I had wide-open eyes for America, and 'the American landscape' in a general sense seemed extremely attractive to me, both as a photographer and filmmaker," he said.

Mail boxes, Montana 1977Image source, Wim Wenders
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Mail boxes, Montana, 1977

Four Drive-in Screens, Montreal, Canada, 2013Image source, Wim Wenders
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Four Drive-in Screens, Montreal, Canada, 2013

This image is from Montreal and was taken during the shoot of Wenders' feature film starring James Franco and Charlotte Gainsbourg, Every Thing Will Be Fine (released in 2015).

Potsdamer Platz with Weinhaus Huth, 1992Image source, Wim Wenders
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Potsdamer Platz with Weinhaus Huth, 1992

This picture shows Potsdamer Platz in Berlin after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 but before regeneration. After the construction of the Berlin Wall, Weinhaus Huth, the large house in the photograph, stood alone on West Berlin territory in the immediate vicinity of the wall.

Landscape near Wittenberge, Germany, 2014Image source, Wim Wenders
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Landscape near Wittenberge, Germany, 2014

Wenders said: "Maybe the long absence from Germany of 15 years has enabled me to see places here with the same wide-open eyes, in those landscapes, German or American, I'm still looking for the traces of civilization, of history, or people."

Airplane in Monument Valley, 2015Image source, Wim Wenders
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Airplane in Monument Valley, 2015

Time Capsules. By the side of the road. Wim Wenders' recent photographs is at Blain|Southern, external Berlin until 14 November 2015.