Danube Revisited: A Journey of Women Photographers in Footsteps of Inge Morath

The 1,700 mile voyage of photojournalist Inge Morath, the author of the Donau series, took her along the Danube, from the Black Forest mountains in the south of Germany to the river mouth in Romania. Today eight women from several countries are retracing her footsteps, and the goal of their Danube Revisited Project is to pay respect to the memory of Morath and introduce her work to the public.

Over the course of her life Inge Morath, who was born in Austria in 1923, had published three dozen monographs and became one of the pioneering first women to join agency Magnum. She shot in different genres but what made her famous was street photography and portraits of regular people. At the age of 39 she got married to playwright Arthur Miller (who had been previously married to Marilyn Monroe), and together they published book “In Russia” with texts by Miller and photographs by Morath.

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In 2003, a year after Inge’s death, a non-profit named the Inge Morath Foundation was established, and Magnum Agency announced the Inge Morath award which is given to a woman photographer under thirty years of age.

Two years ago three of the award nominees – Emily Schiffer, Olivia Arthur and Lurdes Basoli – got together in Salzburg and, after socializing with the owners of the local gallery, found out that the Danube collection used to be Inge’s favorite project. However, many of those whom she photographed never got to see the finished photos. That’s how the idea of Danube Revisited came to life.

In early June of this year Emily, Olivia and Lurdes, joined by five other recipients of the Morath Award, remodeled a truck into a mobil photo gallery and set out for a journey through towns along the Danube where the legendary Austrian photojournalist had taken her photos. During the stops the trip participants shoot new pictures, organize local viewings of the young female photographers’ portfolios, and select the best pieces for the final exhibition.

“This project is about inheritance, we are giving people their history back”, – says Claire Martin, a project participant. – “Even those towns that don’t have funds to open an exhibition will be able to view Morath’s works – and this is the main advantage of a mobil gallery.”

Emily Schiffer, a photographer:

«An unusual story happened to us in Linz, Austria, – our exhibition truck was seen by a local resident who had been photographed by Inge Morath. As turned out, the woman used to be a singer and preserved Inge’s images in her personal archives – those are now in the book. She invited us for breakfast and even sang for us in the truck! Naturally, we hoped to meet someone who had been in Inge’s photos, however we had no idea it would happen this soon».

The project received support from the Inge Morath Foundation, the Magnum Foundation and Fotohof Gallery in Salzburg. The organizers also launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter and in thirty days collected $59,563 instead of the expected $50,000.

According to the participants, their main problem is time shortage. They have extremely intense schedule when it comes to relocating, exhibition hours and portfolio overviews. The women drive their own truck, photograph daily and engage the locals into their shoots.

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Sometime during the trip four local women photographers will join the original group. Creators of Danube Revisited are looking for powerful photo projects that will be integrated into the final exhibition. “We have no time to create a documented longterm photo history. But there are photographers who have been working on that for years – and we’d like to show their vision,” Emily says.

They already had one portfolio overview in Germany – the team was greatly impressed by a photo project dedicated to the battlefield locations, in particular to the phenomenon of the old memories of the battles. The subject echoes the idea of the Danube Revisited road trip that also explores connection between the past and the present.

The photo journey in the footsteps of Inge Morath will go on until the 11th of August. It will result into a documentary about the trip, a large scale exposition that will include Inge Morath’s pieces as well as the works of her followers, and a photo book about the project.