Back in 1989, Kai Wiendenhöfer was a first-semester student studying in Cologne, Germany. The day the Berlin Wall fell, the budding photographer rushed to the city to capture the historic moment. Since then, the Berlin-based documentarian has traveled the world shooting border separation walls in some of the most hostile cities on earth. He’s photographed the DMZ between North and South Korea, the Peace Lines in Belfast, the Green Line separating Turkey and Greece and our very own border wall between the United States and Mexico (to name just a few). Now, in conjunction with the publishing of his book Confrontier, Wiedenhöfer is looking to mount those photographs on the remnants of the Berlin Wall, creating a massive, open-air exhibition that he hopes will spark conversation about the use of border walls as a means to political gain.

>Photographing the Korean DMZ and Baghdad's concrete curtain required increased safety measures.

Wiedenhöfer has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the project, and if he meets his goal, he’ll print 36 large-format photographs from eight barrier structures around the world. The exhibition, titled WALLONWALL, will be expansive. With each photograph measuring 3 by 9 meters, the exhibition will stretch for 364 meters and take up nearly 1,100 square meters of space on the Berlin Wall, making it a nearly unavoidable art experience for everyone who visits the landmark.

“We hope that this will be an open air gallery for art in the future,” says Wiendhöfer. “For artists around the world, it’s a dream space to exhibit in because you can get people there with almost no effort.”

Construction of the border fence between the U.S. and Mexico. Naco, Mexico and Douglas, Arizona. April 2008. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer A fence and watch booth in the Spanish enclave of Melilla separates it from Morocco. The fence was erected over the last decade to prevent immigration from Africa to the European Union. The enclave has still a big presence of Spanish soldiers here seen coordinating their training with the Guardia Civil, which is in charge of guarding the border. Melilla, Spain. March 2009. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer South and North Korean military police officers stand next to the barrack where the armistice between North and South Korea was signed in 1953. The curb marks the demarcation line between the two countries. To the left stands an American soldier. Panmunjom, Demilitarized Zone, Korea. September 2009. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer A Palestinian in Nazlat Isa in the Northern Westbank. Here the ceasefire line from the war in 1948 runs straight through the Palestinian town of Baqa al-Rarbiya (Baqa West), which belongs to Israel, and Nazlat Isa, which belongs to Baqa al-Scharqiya (Baqa East). In 2004, the Israeli government built a wall through the city separating the community and their families. Before 2000, the town was a busy place for trade between the Palestinians in the Westbank and Israel. For the building of the wall, 105 shops and seven houses were destroyed. Occupied Palestinian Territories, April 2004. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer An Iraqi soldier controlling a pedestrian exit/entrance to the neighbourhood of Bayya in Baghdad. The quarter is completely surrounded by walls and can only be entered by checkpoints. Iraq, January 2012. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer A blocked street in the center of the Nicosia, seen from the Greek - Zypriot side. The sign says, "Stop you are entering the Turkish occupied zone." Cyprus, February 2012. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer A section of the Peace Lines of West Belfast in Waterville Street, which was reinforced with concrete and extended with a fence on top in 2008. Children cut a small hole in the fence to get access to the lawn. Belfast, Northern Ireland, September 2008. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer U.S. Border Patrol officers negotiate with activists who had put up a protest camp on both sides of the Mexican-U.S. border. The officers wanted to make sure nobody entered the U.S. from the Mexican side during the protest. Calexico, California, USA. November 2007. Photo: Kai Wiendenhöfer

Wiednenhöfer calls the process of obtaining a permit to mount his photographs “very German.” It took him and his curators five years and countless meetings with commissions, political groups and bureaucrats to make it happen. “My curator basically told me, ‘Kai, you have to remember one thing: 10 percent is the project and 90 percent is party politics.’”

Capturing his arresting images was no easier. In the six years he’s worked on this project (he started in 2007), Wiedenhöfer has made 21 trips to various border locations. Some walls, like the Melilla border fence that separates Morocco and Spain, were painless to photograph. While others, like the DMZ and concrete curtain in Baghdad, took more bureaucratic finagling and increased safety measures. Wiedenhöfer diplomatically notes: “Every location has its challenges and also things that are really good to photograph.”

As art alone, Wiedenhöfer's images are an intriguing look at how different cultures use structures to achieve their political goals. But the real aim of all of this, Wiendenhöfer says, is to bring attention to the practice of border wall construction. He hopes that by seeing nearly life-size images of these barriers, viewers will gain a greater understanding of how these walls affect the lives of the people behind them.

“Walls are no solution for today’s political major problems,” he says. “And I think the Berlin Wall was the best proof of that.”

Want to donate to WALLONWALL? There's still time. Check out Wiendenhöfer's Kickstarter page for details.

(h/t Vice)