Thomas Billhardt: A photographer in over 40 countries

After training as a photographer and studies at the Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig, Thomas Billhardt (born 1937) went on his first trip abroad in 1961 - he was commissioned by the FDJ to photo-document revolutionary Cuba. Today, Billhardt sees his return trip as a key moment for the decades to come, because despite the wall that had just been erected, he returned to the GDR. During his work as a photojournalist, reporter and publicist, he had the opportunity to travel to an incomparable number of countries. He documented wars, revolutions or the everyday life of the people during numerous stays in the Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Chile, Lebanon, Italy or Mozambique, to name just a few stations.

In a video interview in the exhibition at the Kleinmachnower Heimatverein celebrating his 85th birthday, Thomas Billhardt recalls trips to Cuba, Chile, Lebanon, and the Soviet Union and talks about the effectiveness of his paintings in the GDR as well as the feeling of having lived "between two worlds."