ABOUT
Dirk H. Wilms is a German photographer and visual artist known for his occasionally controversial self-portraits that focuses on topics like mortality, sexuality, and identity, love, anxiety, and stigmatization.
He first came to public recognition with a two-decade-long body of work, his photographic series A KIND OF ABSENCE that is concerned with his identity as a gay man living with HIV and AIDS. First exhibited 2015 in a one-person show in Weimar, the auto-biographical photographs gained the attention of both the public and the media. In the years following their debut they continue to be reviewed, and collected, and to provoke frequently controversy and discussion.
Influenced by personal life events and inner perceptions, Dirk (born 1966) uses conceptual staged self-portraits to reveal and reflect the things that occupy his inner world. “My work is a never ending search for identity and meaning. It has transformed into a way for me to find a balance in the midst of a downward spiral of a progressing disease and hope,” he said. “I create unconventional portraits which have simplicity, but inside are complex personal stories, revealed deliberately with a raw openness. A sort of psychoanalytic therapy in some way.”
His photographs have been featured in prestigious art, culture and gay magazines and can be found in a variety of private collections.
He lives and works in the western part of Germany with his husband Martin and their beloved dog Kolja.
SELECTED INTERVIEWS & TEXTS
THE AIDS MEMORIAL (2019)
STUART ARMSTRONG IN CONVERSATION WITH DIRK H. WILMS
QUEER NB (2018)
MARCEL SPITTEL SPÄTER ERKANNTE ICH ...
MÄNNER MAGAZIN (2016)
DENNIS STEPHAN EINE FORM DER ABWESENHEIT
GAY CH MAGAZINE (2015)
LUIS PESTANA PORTFOLIO DIRK H. WILMS
SALVE TV (2015)
EINE ART VON ABWESENHEIT / VIDEO
HIV PLUS MAGAZINE (2015)
JACOB ANDERSON-MINSHALL SEE YOU SEE ME
QUEER.DE (2015)
REDAKTION QUEER EINE ART DER ABWESENHEIT
CARSTEN BAUHAUS WIE STILLE SCHREIE
KALTBLUT MAGAZINE (2014)
AMANDA M JANSSON ART - DIRK H. WILMS
DIRK H. WILMS A KIND OF ABSENCE
MEIN SCHWULES AUGE (2014)
DIRK H. WILMS Ich trage AIDS in meinem Gesicht
MASCULAR MAGAZINE (2013)
VINCENT KEITH PORTFOLIO A KIND OF ABSENCE
SELECTED PRESS & PUBLICATIONS
MASCULAR MAGAZINE (UK), ZINE MAGAZINE (JAPAN),
MÄNNER MAGAZINE (GERMANY), MEIN SCHWULES AUGE (GERMANY),
NOISY RAIN (JAPAN), HOMOSURREALISM (UK),
SALVE TV (GERMANY), OTZ JOURNAL (GERMANY),
THÜRINGISCHE LANDESZEITUNG (GERMANY),
QUEER (GERMANY), GAY CH MAGAZINE (SWITZERLAND),
ARTCURE (GREECE), BERLINER MORGENPOST (GERMANY),
BLITZ MAGAZINE (GERMANY), CHUECA MAGAZINE (SPAIN),
HIV PLUS MAGAZINE (USA), MEN ADDICTED (FRANCE),
GENTE RARA (VENEZUELA), LAZAGNE ART MAGAZINE (ITALY),
SRDREGE MEN (TURKEY), ET ALORS? (NETHERLANDS),
TRIBE MAGAZINE (UK), M+ MAGAZINE (GERMANY),
KALTBLUT (GERMANY), THE UNTOLD (UK), SLAVE MAGAZINE (UK),
ULISEX! MAGAZINE (MEXICO), EDGE MAGAZINE (USA),
GET INSPIRED (GERMANY)
CATALOGUES
ESCAPING THE FACE (2017)
A KIND OF ABSENCE (2015)
HOME BY THE SEA (2009)