Love International

Uwe Ommer’s Exhibition Captures Over 1000 Families Worldwide

At a restaurant in Paris, on December 30th 1995, Uwe Ommer sat observing two families of different origins enjoying their dinner. The seed was planted, and soon he found himself embarking on a four-year long journey that would take him to 130 different countries, photographing over 1000 families.

Among the obstacles he encountered, Uwe told The Plus, were ‘border crossings, car breakdowns, corruption, and unfit or no roads’.

His exhibition, 1000 families, has since travelled to many cities around the world, and will be opening in the UK for the first time this Saturday (12th July), as part of the London Southbank Centre’s Storge weekend, Festival of Love.

We asked Uwe more about the experience:

The Plus: What one thing did all families have in common?
Uwe Ommer: All parents wish to be able to offer their children a better education than they had themselves.

TP: Have you kept in contact with any of the families?
UO: We sent every family (all 1251 of them) a print, and had a lot of correspondence with many of the families.
For my newest project Teens & Families (2010-2012) I photographed 10 of the families again with their now teenage children.

TP: What are your future plans?
UO: Why not a big outdoors exhibition of the 1000 Families and Teens & Families in England?

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