The Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf cemetery on the outskirts of Berlin is the 10th largest in the world. Much of the site is forested, with more wild flora and winding paths than perfectly trimmed hedges and asphalt roads. Over a period of two years, the photographer Anke Krey shadowed the employees at the graveyard with her camera, driven to find out more about their work. How does the daily confrontation with death affect them? What is their relationship to the earth and the forest that provides the final resting place for thousands upon thousands of people?

Erden provides a respectful and quiet chronicle of the daily tasks and the complex demands of the work here, which can vary from one hour to the next. Prior to funerals, for example, the workers swap their everyday work clothes for a black suit and tie; the foresters and technicians become funeral directors and spiritual counsellors who bury the deceased and offer words of solace to relatives. With a rare intensity, Anke Krey’s photographs capture and condense the transcendence of mundane manual work alongside these ever-present reminders of human mortality.

Text in English and German.