On the occasion of his 90th birthday, C/O Berlin in collaboration with the F.C. Gundlach Foundation is presenting the first major Berlin retrospective of Walter Schels (b. 1936). It has been curated following an extensive review of his printed work, comprising over 10,000 original prints. For over six decades, the photographer has considered human existence, confronted norms, taboos, and extreme experiences, and questioned identity and transformation. His distinctive visual language operates at the boundary between documentary and fine-art photography, drawing on a broad use of materials.
Image gallery
He combines series, portraits, and experimental photographs to convey formal structures and processes.
The exhibition brings together roughly 250 works which highlight the central themes of Schels’s complex oeuvre.
These include defining work series, such as portraits of famous and unknown individuals, young people in transition, the dying, animals, and images of plants created through chemical overpainting.
Early works from his archive and biographical artifacts offer a glimpse into the working methods of this unusual photographer.
The exhibition brings together roughly 250 works which highlight the central themes of Schels’s complex oeuvre.
These include defining work series, such as portraits of famous and unknown individuals, young people in transition, the dying, animals, and images of plants created through chemical overpainting.
Early works from his archive and biographical artifacts offer a glimpse into the working methods of this unusual photographer.
- Curated by Sophia Greiff, Beate Lakotta, Sebastian Lux and Franziska Mecklenburg.
- Made possible by C/O Berlin Friends e.V.
