Arne Piepke GLAUBE, SITTE, HEIMAT

Arne Piepke's desire to photograph Schützenfest, an annual marksman festival in Germany, came in a roundabout way. What brought him closer to his native culture was actually exploring other countries like Norway, Kosovo and Georgia, he says. It was during this period of travel, after graduating high school but before beginning his photography studies at the University of Applied Sciences and Art in Dortmund, Germany, that he began to use photography to document his surroundings. When he returned to his hometown in 2015, he knew he wanted to photograph the marksmen clubs and their unique tie to rural German tradition.

Titled, “Glaube, Sitte, Heimat,” which translates to “Faith, Custom, Home”—the marksmen motto inscribed on their flag—the series documents the shooting competition and festivities. “I had mixed feelings about the marching and the guns, something that you don’t often see in Germany,” Piepke explains.

“I wanted to explore it deeper.” According to Piepke, marksmen clubs began as civil defense in the Middle Ages and haven’t evolved much. “Most of the clubs have strict rules, do not allow women as members and represent conservative Christian values,” he explains. “The series was about examining identity and questioning the necessity and the contemporary exercise of the tradition.”

— Lindsay Comstock

Photos © Arne Piepke arnepiepke.com