Bernhard Fuchs' latest artist's book presents photographs of farms near his childhood home in the north of Austria. In the course of recent walks in the area around Helfenberg, Fuchs was confronted with the massive transformations in its farming communities over the past few decades. Remotely located in the hilly landscape of the Mühlviertel, these farms are mainly mixed-farming operations, determined by the areas's arable fields, woodland and grassland for the grazing of livestock. Today, most of these farms are run as secondary sources of income and are passed down from generation to generation. But as a result of recent developments in agriculture and the rising costs of upkeep--as well as the inevitable neglect as subsequent generations abandon agriculture--many farms have been abandoned. Fuchs portrays these rural ruins and those farms that survive with both clarity and empathy.
Poland