Tillmans Reminds that Democracy Needs Defence

The past is another country, they say. Photographer and graphic artist Wolfgang Tillmans has been revisiting his contribution to a 1991 photoessay, published in the fashion and music magazine, ID, which celebrated rave culture, and the optimism of a young world celebrating sexual freedom, democracy and human rights as the communist bloc countries collapsed and the nuclear clock seemed no longer to be ticking. Twenty eight years on, Mr Tillmans has prepared another photoessay, this time for the contemporary culture magazine Crack, made in Bristol and London. He notes that “it took centuries for Europe to overcome its history of bloodshed and nationalisms”. Fearing for the future of democracy across the continent, he urges young people, minorities and women to organise themselves, register to vote and to use their power wisely. Democracy must constantly be defended and fought for, he reminds us.