Du, du liegsch mir im Herze*
Ste. Genevieve County, 2022
*Badisch dialect and translates as ‘You, you are so close to my heart’.
The first immigrants from Germany’s Black Forest arrived in Ste. Genevieve County, in Missouri USA during the 1830s. There they founded the new villages of New Offenburg, Zell and Weingarten and began farming the land. Back in the German region of Ortenau there are still places bearing these same names. Nowadays Ste. Genevieve County is a family-oriented community with active religious parishes. While some older descendants of the first immigrants still speak and sing ‘Badisch’, a dialect common in the Baden-Württemberg region of Germany, its use is declining. However, German influences can still be found within traditional cooking.
A detailed portfolio is available on request. The project was supported by the Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Württemberg.
Feature on The Guardian. Click here to view the article.
Robert Mueller, a local historian and re-enactor, dressed up as a farmer with a black hat. This was clothing typical of the Black Forest, worn by his Badisch ancestors who emigrated to Ste. Genevieve in the 1830s where they lived out their lives. They are buried in the Zell St. Joseph Cemetery.
Treasured gifts and souvenirs in the living room of an 83-year-old lady in River aux Vases, Missouri. In the centre of this arrangement is a quilt handmade for her 40th wedding anniversary. Below are two dolls dressed in traditional costumes from the Black Forest. The left side of the buffet has photos from her wedding to her first husband and the right side has photos from her second one.
Bandit, a nine-year-old German shepherd dog, makes himself comfortable on an old living room chair. There, he has a good vantage point for watching his home, a Missouri Century Farm established in 1837 and since then continuously in the same farming family.
In 2022 the Hollywood prom theme brought a glamorous feel to Audoban’s restaurant in Ste. Genevieve. Here Brynna, a 17-year-old student at the High School, sat for her portrait in her junior prom dress on the afternoon before her dance at Elks Lodge—an American fraternal order founded in 1868.
Parking is available in front of the Midway Bar & Grill in Weingarten, Missouri. The rustic atmosphere of this restaurant invites you to enjoy a cold beer or traditional American cuisine, for example after a successful day of hunting deer or turkey, a very popular hobby in the area.
In Baden-Württemberg, ‘liver knaeflis’ (dumplings), traditionally served with brown gravy, used to be considered delicacies. They have been voted as a favourite dish in Ste. Genevieve restaurants and are a signature dish at church picnics in the area. Here, they are part of the Sunday lunch buffet at the Old Brick House restaurant.
At the St. Joseph School in Zell the curriculum includes religious-centred education alongside secular subjects. Jesus is the unseen but ever-present teacher in all its classrooms. This hyper-realist painting of Christ entitled ‘Prince of Peace’, created by eight-year-old Akiane Kramarik in 2002, is mounted in the hallway. Ever since thousands of copies have been sold around the globe.
Installation image of ‘Du, du liegsch mir im Herze’ (Courtesy of Werner Herling).
Exhibited as part of ‘Zuhause № 6’ at Sprengel Museum Hannover, 9 Nov 2022 – 8 Jan 2023.
Solo exhibition ‘In Search of Identity’, Edmondson Hall, Bloomington, US, 5 – 11 Feb 2024.
Bob and Betty, both depicted within the series, travelled from Missouri for the exhibition.