Annemarie Schwarzenbach (1908–1942) is one of the most colorful figures in modern Swiss cultural and literary history. The writer, photo reporter and world traveler left journalistic publications, literary texts and photographs of great emotional intensity and political urgency.
Schwarzenbach's photographic documentations of the time between the world wars attest to her tremendous visual skills and are still impressive today. Her carefully composed pictures show a keen interest in political upheavals and social issues. And they reflect the tension between highly topical issues: identity and home, individuality and community, the departure from traditional gender roles and the relationship between nature and culture, tradition and progress.
Departure without a goal is the first publication that is exclusively devoted to the previously little-known photographic work of Schwarzenbach. Accompanying essays locate their images in the history of photography and analyze the relationship between photography and literature. Schwarzenbach's constant movement as a form of existence - both intellectually and geographically - manifests itself vividly in this multi-perspective volume.