Three Superpowers

Alf Folmer, 97, is an architect, photographer and author. His interest in taking pictures started at the age of 14. Since then, he has portrayed people’s lives and life situations both at home and in the world. His focus has always been to reflect the differences between rich and poor, images that raise questions about justice and morality, both in political systems and between people and individuals. Folmer has a long experience in meetings with famous and unknown people and environments.

For instance, he has been working at a labor camp, not far from Russian war prisoners in Finland, and he has worked with the architect Le Corbusier in Paris. After the war he began his education to become an architect. In parallel, he worked as a photographer with various assignments in China, India, the Soviet Union, Cuba and the US. With a sharp eye, Alf Folmer discovered similarities and differences in the countries he traveled to.

The viewer is invited to a personal and up to date world, where meetings between people are more important than ideological preferences.

This exhibition describes a time of change where ideology influences the development, conditions and people of the three superpowers: the United States, the Soviet Union and China, during the 50s and 60s. Most of the images have never been shown before.