Galerie Julian Sander presents a retrospective of the work and career of the artist Sean Hemmerle.
Walls. They can be found all over the world. Separating countries, neighbors, people. They protect in the eyes of those who erect them – from the others. But they are actually only one thing: memorials of fear and demarcation. Manifested in concrete, barbed wire or bricks. But for Sean Hemmerle, the others do not exist: “THERE IS ONLY US”.
In his photographs, the American photographer Sean Hemmerle shows us what unites and what divides. He photographs everyday architecture in places marked by conflict and struggle, from the Middle East to the middle of America and China – revealing the hidden signs of vitality and beauty that can be found amidst the tensions. His work directly captures moments of rise and fall; each impression balanced on the sharp edge of erasure.
Sean Hemmerle is an award-winning New York-based photographer whose work ranges from international conflict zones to contemporary architecture. After serving in the U.S. Army (1984- 1988), he attended the University of Miami and earned an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York in 1997. He quickly established his reputation as a sought-after architectural and urban landscape photographer, and since 9/11 has turned his eye toward documenting the effects of war in New York, Afghanistan and Iraq.
His conflict images span tumultuous decades, from the World Trade Center to Kabul, Baghdad, Gaza, Juárez, and Beirut. Closer to home, Hemmerle has created award-winning photographs that reflect the pathos and poetry of the American Rust Belt. His work has been widely exhibited, including by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago, The Pingyao Photography Festival in Pingyao, China, and he has had many other solo exhibitions.
His photographs can also be found in public and private art collections.
Sean Hemmerle photographs the everyday architecture in places of conflict and struggle, ranging from the Middle East to the Middle of America—he reveals the hidden signs of vitality and beauty found amidst the tensions. His work instantaneously captures moments of rise and decline; each impression balanced on the sharp edge of extinction.
Selected Projects include: My City Recently Removed (2020); The Drone-Zone (2019); Brutal Legacy (2013); Media Nodes (2002-2011); The American Rust Belt (2009); THEM: Iraq (2003)
and Afghanistan (2002).
Sean Hemmerle : Mid Career Retrospective
Until November 25 2022
Galerie Julian Sander Bonner Str, 82
50677 Cologne, Germany
