Photographer & Initiator of Blacklight
born 1964, Germany
“The worst thing about mass death in war and crisis zones is not the grief of the survivors. It is the fact that we are increasingly unable to grasp the full extent of violence.”
Where photography reaches its limit as a lens to describe life in violence-ridden regions and for documenting collective trauma, photographer Wolf Böwig begins his work. In the spirit of „Extended Photography,“ he expands his documentary images with text, painting, silkscreen printing, and memorabilia into multilayered collages, boldly experimenting at the edges of reception. The boundaries he crosses are those we ourselves construct about our ideas and the causes, effects, and consequences of violence. Challenging these notions courageously is Böwig’s compelling offer.
His work can be described as a deep dive because he does not stop at the surface, does not depict the obvious, and does not reproduce clichés. In a world too often dominated by sensational headlines, he steps on the brakes. He takes the time to focus on fragile regions, on humanitarian crises, and illuminates the perspectives of both victims and perpetrators with equal intensity. This is not humanity à la carte but humanity on equal terms.
Wolf Böwig studied mathematics and philosophy before beginning his career as a photographer in 1988, documenting conflict regions in Afghanistan, the Balkans, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Cuba, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, France, Guinea-Bissau, India, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Namibia, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, East Timor, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Zambia.
Böwig’s photo reports and collages are regularly published in leading international newspapers and magazines such as The Guardian, Le Monde, The New York Times, NZZ, mare, Publica, Stern, The Independent, and Visão, and have received numerous awards.
