Waffenruhe

Published in 1987, "Waffenruhe" (Ceasefire) is a visually sprawling photobook that captures a dystopian atmosphere in Berlin shortly before the fall of the Wall. The work combines Michael Schmidt's high-contrast black-and-white photography with a text by playwright Einar Schleef. Schleef's narrative depicts a man left by his wife, sitting in an empty house with a rabbit, creating a brusque and individual vision of isolation. The book is noted for its mood of ruptures and absences, blending topographic motifs with intimate portraits to evoke a claustrophobic and haunting sense of place.