I see something you don’t see
Wunderkammer Exhibit #8
Over the past 18 months, it has been nearly impossible for the photographer Eva Häberle to travel for her photo reportages. She has made the best of her stay at home and continued to work on her tactile plant and vegetable collages. In the process, she has learned a lot about herself.
The photographer Eva Häberle creates images from finds, transforming leaves, mushrooms and vegetables into creatures, fantastic landscapes and, most recently, human organs. I have known Eva for many years, and for me, she is one of the best reportage and portrait photographers in Germany. The reason? Her unique ability to recognize the stories behind individual scenes, bring out a person’s personality in just a few moments and capture it in a shot.
Her work thrives on spontaneity, movement and encounters with people. I would never have imagined that Eva would someday construct images and photograph still lifes. She could not have imagined it herself, she tells me when we meet for coffee at Café Einstein at Savignyplatz in Berlin in September 2021.
Eva started creating collages rather by chance in 2015. After 17 years in journalism, she was exhausted and needed a break. She decided to visit her friend Sean in England, who runs a nursery for microgreens near Plymouth. Microgreens are shoots of vegetables such as peas, cress and radishes grown in soil. Top chefs use them to garnish their dishes. Her gardener friend was supposed to pick her up at the train station, but forgot all about her because he was so busy that day. Fifteen minutes passed, then thirty and then a whole hour, but he never showed up.
At first Eva was a little worried because she had no word from Sean, but eventually she sat down on the curb in front of the station, relaxed and enjoyed the sensation of the July sun on her skin. A few leaves had fallen from the surrounding trees, and they danced at her feet, driven by the wind. Eva pushed a few together. An owl emerged, her first collage. In the weeks at the nursery that followed, several other whimsical creatures came to life. She continued making collages back in Hamburg. In 2016, they resulted in the book Was macht das Blättertier denn hier (“What’s That Leafy Animal Doing Here”).
As time passed, making such images became a passion. “I’m actually not much of a tinkerer. I hate artificial light and dislike standing on my feet for hours in the studio. But somehow I found it fascinating to create collages instead of depicting reality,” Eva says. She uses materials she finds in nature: plants or plant parts, leaves, flowers, fruit and mushrooms. She spends up to three days working on a single subject. Sometimes she is not satisfied with the results after her first try — but she must work quickly because the material wilts.
With and against nature
Over time, she has expanded her repertoire. It now includes images of insects that look deceptively real. Eva arranges them as if in a display case in a natural science museum. One is tempted to try to identify their genus, but they are just fantasy creatures. “Nowadays I look at things much more attentively when I’m in natural surroundings. Sometimes the things I find inspire me to address a current topic in the news. For example, the yellow protea flowers from South Africa reminded me of microbes and viruses — no surprise in the middle of a pandemic.”
Eva Häberle publishes her collages under the brand “The Fox and the Flower.” “They’re completely different from my journalistic work, and I needed a different name for them, one reminiscent of a fairy tale. It’s as if I’m creating a small parallel universe.”
Under the title “TAK | TIL,” she exhibited human organs made from plants and vegetables. Her show ran at Galerie Oberfett in Hamburg from late August to early September 2021. It featured lungs from red dogwood and rhubarb, a fennel heart and a cauliflower brain. They all looked insanely healthy and put a smile on people’s faces. Eva is tired of all the events, but very happy about the positive feedback: “There was a live opening with guests at the gallery. We hosted small dinner parties and sat together for a long time and talked. It was a great experience.”
Is it worth it to work against your nature? To try to control the energy you expend, limit your movement, photograph objects instead of people, and arrange images down to the smallest detail? “I had to pull myself together at times, but I want the result. And I’m tough,” Eva says. The solitary process also caused her to reflect on herself more. Not only does she see things that others don’t see, but she also sees herself in a different light. “What I’ve learned about myself is not only that I’m a very political person, but also that I like to create things that make people happy. A bit like Uderzo, the creator of Asterix.” The famous illustrator drew fictional stories based on real historical material that encourage us to think and, above all, make us feel good.
Take-away for innovators
1. You must relax in order to discover new things.
2. If you look carefully, you’ll see creatures and stories everywhere.
3. Occasionally you have to work against your inner nature to find yourself.
4. Things don’t always work out the first time. Try again.
5. A critical mind and a pleasure in entertaining others are not mutually exclusive.
Between facts and fairy tale
Eva Häberle works as a freelance portrait and reportage photographer for numerous renowned publications such as Stern, Zeit, Brigitte, National Geographic and the New York Times. She also photographs for NGOs like Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, illustrates annual reports and produces multimedia pieces.
Since 2021 she has developed plant-based tactile illustrations under the brand “The Fox and the Flower.” Her work has been shown at various exhibitions, including the photo festival “Horizonte Zingst” in 2018 and Galerie Oberfett in Hamburg in 2021.
Eva Häberle lives in Hamburg, but still has friends and an attachment to Berlin, where she lived for 15 years.
See more
Eva Häberle’s tactile collages
https://www.fox-and-flower.com
Eva Häberle’s journalistic work
https://www.eva-haeberle.de
