Marc Erwin Babej

Marc Erwin Babej (born 30 March 1970) is a German–American photographic artist and writer. His elaborately staged works focus on subject matter in history and social science.

Marc Erwin Babej
Born1970 (age 52–53)
Frankfurt, West Germany
NationalityAmerican, German
EducationChoate Rosemary Hall
Brown University
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Occupation(s)Photographic artist and writer
Websitewww.marcerwinbabej.com

Life and career

Babej was raised in Bad Homburg, West Germany and graduated from Brown University (A.B., History, 1992) and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (MSc, 1993). He worked as a reporter Forbes Magazine, while also writing criticism for the arts sections of Corriere della Sera, Die Zeit, Die Weltwoche and The Guardian.

Works

Babej's photography-based series focus on conflicting belief systems in history, politics and science. Mask of Perfection (2013) examined the tensions between natural beauty and the "scientific" approach to beauty practiced in plastic surgery.[1]

His subsequent works have examined the after-effects of historical events such as the collapse of the Soviet Union in Chernogirls and the Roman heritage of Tunisia in Africanae.[2][3]

Mischlinge (2014) focuses on the impact of the Nazi era on definitions of national identity in the Federal Republic of Germany, combining images with genealogical DNA tests of the cast members and writings by himself, historian Thomas Kühne and Cem Özdemir, co-chairman of Alliance '90/The Greens.[4]

Unser Afrika (2015) focuses on supremacy and colonial genocide during, and in the aftermath of, the Herero and Namaqua genocide in the former colony of German Southwest Africa. Historians and genocide scholars Henning Melber, Jürgen Zimmerer, Ulrich van der Heyden and Joachim Zeller served as historical advisors on the work. The June 2018 premiere of Unser Afrika in Hamburg City Hall was widely regarded as having drawn attention to an overlooked aspect of German history.[5][6][7]

Style

Babej works exclusively in black and white. His photographic style is influenced by the deep focus cinematography of 1930s and 40s filmmakers such as Orson Welles and Jean Renoir, and cinematographer Gregg Toland. Mischlinge explicitly references the aesthetics of Leni Riefenstahl.[8]

Yesterday – Tomorrow

Babej's latest work, Yesterday – Tomorrow: A Work in Aspective Realism, takes up the complex visual language of ancient Egyptian art. An international team of more than 50 specialists was involved in the work. Thirteen Egyptologists worked with Babej as co-creators of the "photographic reliefs" which form the core of the work: Christian Bayer and Oliver Gauert (Roemer- und Pelizaeus-Museum Hildesheim), Laurel Bestock (Brown University), Peter Der Manuelian (Harvard University), Roxana Flammini (Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina/CONICET), Salima Ikram and Mariam Ayad (American University in Cairo), Christian Loeben (Museum August Kestner), Juan Carlos Moreno García (Université Paris IV-Sorbonne), Matthias Müller (( University of Basel) Thomas Schneider (University of British Columbia), Regine Schulz (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) and Steve Vinson (Indiana University Bloomington).[9] The preface of the Yesterday – Tomorrow book is written by his mentor, Roger Ballen.

Aspective Realism

In Yesterday – Tomorrow, Babej adapts defining characteristics of ancient Egyptian art, such as aspective representation (the simultaneous representation of the human body from multiple perspectives in two-dimensional media), the canon of proportions and the integration of images, symbols and text.[10]

The resulting new art style, termed Aspective Realism, is regarded as "the revival of ancient Egyptian art after 2,000 years of dormancy."[11] At the opening of the Yesterday – Tomorrow exhibition at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Head of the Museums Sector at Egypt's Ministry of State of Antiquities, Elham Salah, stated that Aspective Realism "revives the complex visual language of ancient Egyptian art and evolves it in contemporary photorealistic media."[12]

Selected exhibitions

References
  1. American Photo feature on Mask of Perfection, 10 November 2014
  2. Der Spiegel feature on Chernogirls, 17 December 2013
  3. American Photo: Marc Erwin Babej's Cinematic Exploration of Tunisian Society, 15 September 2014
  4. Using Nazi Settings and DNA Tests, Jewish Photographer Quashes 'the Fiction of German Blood', Dezember 29, 2014
  5. FAZ: Hamburgs Dunkle Vergangenheit, 18 June 2018
  6. ZDF/Aspekte: Völkermord an den Herero—Das Fotoprojekt von Marc Babej, 15 June 2018
  7. Die Welt: Provokatives Werk zeigt Erbe des Kolonialismus, 18 June 2018
  8. Galerie m2a exhibition press release
  9. "Marc Erwin Babej Yesterday – Tomorrow A Work in Aspective Realism – Kehrer Verlag". Kehrer Verlag. Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  10. "Aspekte/ZDF: Marc Babejs altägyptische Fotokunst". zdf.de (in German). Retrieved 19 March 2017.
  11. "Roemer-Pelizaeus Museum: Babej Englisch". rpmuseum.de (in German). Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  12. Egypt Today: Egyptian Museum to Host Exhibition by Photographer Marc Erwin Babej, 2 August 2018
  13. Mischlinge exhibition at Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde
  14. Babej profile at parisphoto.com
  15. "Mask of Perfection exhibition at Clarinda Carnegie Art Museum". Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  16. Körpereingriffe/Mask of Perfectionexhibition Archived 9 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine.
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