WHO IS MICHAEL WOLF?

Michael Wolf was a German artist and photographer who focused on capturing daily life and the busyness of cities, born 30 July 1954 and died 24 April 2019. His work was mainly based in Hong Kong and Paris, he loved architectural patterns and well as daily interactions in cities. He grew up in a family of artists with his father being a calligraphist and his mother working with pottery and paint. He began his career in photojournalism, working for eight years with the magazine Stern, but he never really enjoyed it, describing it as “stupid and boring”.

WHY HAVE I CHOSEN THIS PHOTOGRAPHER?

I have chosen this photographer because I want to focus my project of Anthropocene on overpopulation and overcrowding as these can have major effects on the planet. I think his photographs show the busy lives of the city and crowded areas while it still being creative and effective. I also love the use of repition in Michael Wolfes work, it suggests that humans are only repeating what they are already doing instead of fixing the problem they have caused.

HOW I WILL RESPOND?

I will focus on areas such as St. Helier and other built up places so that I can photograph a variety of different buildings. I will try to focus a range of buildings from tall to short, old to new, colourful to dull so that it shows the variation of properties in Jersey and hopefully show the effects of overpopulation on the planet.

EXAMPLES OF HIS WORK

ANALYSIS