Revisiting Hannah Hch's Berlin garden--her wartime lifeline and secret creative refuge
At the onset of World War II, the visionary Dada artist Hannah Hch (1889-1978) retreated to a secluded house on the outskirts of Berlin, fleeing persecution for her radical collage work and her unflagging opposition to fascism. In the decades that followed, the surrounding garden became her artistic muse, but it was also a means of survival: its fruits and vegetables were a vital source of sustenance during wartime, and its grounds served as the hiding place for her priceless collection of Dada artworks.
Eighty years later, this richly illustrated and deeply researched book reimagines Hch's garden from an artist's perspective. It brings together Hch's botanical collages and garden photographs with deep archival cuts exploring her queer history with Til Brugman; new art by the artists Scott Roben and Johanna Tiedtke, based on visits to Hch's garden; and an essay by the writer Alhena Katsof. Together, these elements interweave past and present, private and public, personal and political, o?ering new views into Hch's lush refuge.