Tonight I found out that my friend Hanno Hardt passed away on October 11th. I am profoundly saddened by this news. Hanno was an inspiration to me while a student at the University of Iowa. Hans Breder and Hanno were friends and I was in Hans' Intermedia program.
Hanno Hardt loved black and white documentary photography. He loved Iowa. "A Time in Iowa" is a book he self-published in 2007. He has self-published a great number of photography books on Blurb.
I still have my notes from his class. We talked about the media. Film, photography, TV. My paper was about Woody Allen and all the controversies surrounding him at that time. I still have that paper. Later, Hanno served as a member on my MFA committee. I appreciated his support of my work.
Over the years, we stayed loosely connected. He wrote an invitation for me to teach and research at the University of Ljubljana last year and again this year. Hanno wanted me to help assist him teach photography and video at the university. He believed in me and in my work as an artist. Hanno Hardt was an incredibly smart and creative thinking man. He was also very generous and kind. I hoped I would see him again...this time in Slovenia.
There will be a memorial for him at the MILL in Iowa City on November 4th from 4pm - 7pm.
