The Leica Gallery presents "HEIMATFÄRBUNG", an exhibition by the French-based German photographer Henrike Stahl. She uses hybrid practices to reveal the thousand possibilities of reality and create a dialog between worlds. Home and identity are central themes in her photographic practice. For her, plurality is a guarantee of richness, and she likes to crumple, cut and experiment with paper without manipulating reality.

The photographs and poetic interventions in the image were taken during her stay at the French vineyard Château Palmer in 2023. Her series "L'arc sera parmi les nuages" tells of the everyday life of the winegrowers and portrays the young people, most of whom come from the surrounding suburbs and have a bad reputation. It poetically documents how these young people get involved in the processes at the winery and learn through the knowledge they are given. "I quickly realized that the transfer is part of a broader philosophy: Palmer is not only making wine, but also helping people to develop. They give young people a chance and believe in learning. The young people here are buds. My job is to photograph these buds as they blossom." (Henrike Stahl) Stahl captures everything that lies outside the frame and traces its discrete furrow: Marginal figures, in-between states, the delicacy of the edges. During the months spent at Château Palmer, she captured the work of the winegrowers with a complicit sensibility, observing the transfers, experimenting and literally immersing her prints in the earth to give birth to gentle, poetic visions.

Omnipresent in this nature-based approach is the threat of drought and the geographically driven rising sea levels that are slowly taking over the land. "How to save our earth from this fear of flooding, which is omnipresent in a place like Château Palmer - the vineyard is very close to the sea. And what we can do to save our social values beyond that. The exchange is very important. To pass on what you have learned. Passing things on to posterity." Stahl deliberately chooses a positive perspective on her environment. The unusual practices of biodynamic farming inspired Stahl to continue her experimental approach to photography. She exposes the photographs to different processes and influences from viticulture. Everything the winegrowers do, she does too. Nature has the last word - in wine and in her art. The influence of nature is continued by the artist in the haptic post-processing by cutting out the motif.

The exhibition "Henrike Stahl | HEIMATFÄRBUNG" can be seen at the Leica Gallery Stuttgart (Calwer Straße 41) from July 25 to October 4, 2025. The gallery is open from Monday to Friday from 10.00 am to 6.30 pm and Saturday from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm. Free admission. The photographs are available for purchase. An artist's book on the series has been published by Filigranes.