Für uns - Helga Paris

This publication accompanies the landmark exhibition für uns (for us) by Helga Paris and marks the most comprehensive presentation of her work to date—an expansive homage to one of East Germany’s most significant photographic voices. A central figure in the cultural landscape of once-divided Berlin, Helga Paris (1938–2024) is renowned for her raw, empathetic portraits of everyday life in the GDR. Her black-andwhite photographs move with quiet power— capturing streets, homes, factories, and above all, people—with deep sensitivity and respect. Spanning her career from the 1960s through the period of reunification, this volume gathers her most iconic series alongside lesser-known bodies of work and personal snapshots. It is a living tribute, honoring Paris’s enduring ability to transform the ordinary into something unforgettable—for us.