"Portrait of a rebuilt City" explores the visual and social transformation of Salzburg. The work is based on historical photographs taken by a military photographer who documented the city's extensive bomb damage in 1945. The year 2025—the 80th anniversary of the city's liberation from National Socialism—forms the temporal and thematic framework of the series.
It was initiated by an invitation from the public broadcaster Salzburg (ORF) to develop an artistic work based on this historical image material. Salzburg was heavily bombed during World War II, large parts of the city were destroyed and rebuilt in the following decades. These places were visited several times and photographed from today's perspective.
The work focuses on how memory is anchored in urban space – and where it is simultaneously covered up or suppressed. The photographs show everyday places whose historical significance is barely visible in the current cityscape. By juxtaposing the past and the present, the culture of remembrance is experienced an ongoing process rather than a static commemoration.
Of course, the work was created from a privileged position, without ever having experienced war. Nevertheless, the work aims to raise awareness that destruction is a brutal reality for many people.
Helena Kalleitner
Helena Kalleitner (*1996) lives and works as a freelance photographer in Salzburg. In 2021, she graduated from the College for Photography and Audiovisual Media at Die Graphische Wien, followed by the Friedl Kubelka School for Artistic Photography, where she graduated in 2022. Beside her personal projects, she works in the fields of editorial, portrait, and documentary photography.
She has been part of FOTOHOF Salzburg since 2022.
Her approach focuses strongly on immersing herself in different realities through the medium of photography. Starting from a critical but curious basis of observation, she often deals with social issues and phenomena.
