The powerful imagery in these two photographs, “Refugee Camp” and “East Mostar”, draws on everyday realities as Wolfgang Bellwinkel encountered them during his journeys through the former Yugoslavia. Dark blankets from a makeshift camp contrasts against a gray wall. Where these two dominating areas meet, a figure appears to sink within the blankets. In the second photograph Bellwinkel presents a view of the Bosnian city of Mostar. A diffuse, gray daylight is reflected in the rain-soaked pavement void of pedestrians. In each work the color-stripped tonality and the particular perspective conveys a troubling sense of unease.
Wolfgang Bellwinkel (*1959 in Bochum, Germany; now living in Berlin and Bangkok)
Wolfgang Bellwinkel studied at the Comprehensive University in Essen and had already worked as a photographer for Die Zeit, Der Spiegel and Stern when, in 1993, he began travelling through war-torn Yugoslavia. A number of photographic series emerged, including “The Common Place in War”, “Postwar”, “Homeland, and “Babel”. They take as their themes—over the years and across various locations—environments and circumstances which have been impacted by war, flight, critical forms of urbanity and globalization. In 1994, his work was awarded the German Photography Prize.
