Heimatgrün by Irina Ruppert (February 25, 2010) 
(26 votes, average: 3.31 out of 5)
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Introduction by Sophia Greiff
The lush green of a hilly landscape, the deep red blood of a killed chicken. The warmth of an affectionate embrace, the melancholia of a funeral. Colours and places that pass the eye like impressions on a road trip, like memories of a country once visited. For Irina Ruppert these are the reminiscences of her childhood; the sites, experiences and objects that are indestructibly kept in her mind. She travelled to Eastern Europe, to Kazakhstan and the Carpathian Mountains, to find these feelings of home – a home that she had to leave behind at the age of seven, when her family moved to Germany. Irinas poetic and soulful images record the stations of her autobiographical journey, as well as the spirit of a region and its people. With an intuitive and sensitive eye she captures the colourful patterns and fabrics, the traces on the faces of the portrayed, the different moods of light that form the atmosphere of this place – turning her memories into photographs.
Sophia Greiff is an arts educator specialized in photography connected to the Hamburg Arts Museum.
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Our poll "A photo essay always needs a great written story" closed. 267 people voted, 28% agrees, 72% disagrees. 233 people answered our follow-up question "Are you a photographer?" 82% indicated they are, 18% said no. Initially, negative answers to question #1 were almost 100% as was the pecentage of photographers among respondants. Then, when the level of non-photographers started to rise, the percentage of people indicating good text is always essential started to rise too. This seems to indicate that non-photographers think that adding good text to your photo essays is essential. In my opinion: if you want non-photographers to dig your work, you know what to do...
Irina Ruppert and I have travelled together three times: to Russia, Turkey and, most recently, Romania.
In her view, a photograph has to be the result of a genuine relationship with the individual or group she is looking to portray. The photographer and the subject have to feel safe and at ease.
I would describe Irina’s approach to photography as humanism in action. She feels her way into a situation like few other people I know.
Irina Ruppert’s photographs are soulful and immediately recognizable. They speak of essence. Even her snapshots will convey a sense of the greater experience within which they were taken, along with a hint of the eternal. Her work is never overloaded, never burdened with detail for detail’s sake. If there are people in the picture, their faces reflect the circumstances of their lives. If landscapes are the motif, the vastness and silence are imbued with an incredible feeling of transcendence.
There is no intention to convince or persuade, no desire to make a statement or cause anger. The pictures invite us to day-dream. Sometimes the effect can be metaphysical. As though guided by a mysterious inner compass, Irina Ruppert almost always travels east – in search of her childhood, I suspect.
(Excerpt from the text At the Mouth of the Danube by Christian Schüle, Leica Fotografie International, 2009)
Irina Ruppert (1968) lives and works in Hamburg, Germany.
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