“DEATH IS AN ESSENTIAL ASPECT OF MY WORK, I SEE IT AS A PART OF AN EXPLORATION OF LIFE AND ITS FRAGILITY.”
— Dirk H. Wilms

ABOUT

Dirk H. Wilms is a German photographer and visual artist whose work focuses on topics like mortality, sexuality, and queer identity, love, anxiety, and stigmatization.

He first came to public recognition with an almost two decade-long body of work, his series A KIND OF ABSENCE that is informed by his identity as a gay man living with HIV and AIDS. First exhibited 2015 in a one-person show in Weimar, the auto-biographical works stirred controversy and discussion.

Influenced by personal life events and inner perceptions, Wilms uses conceptual staged self-portraits to reveal and reflect the things that occupy his inner world. “My work 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 portraits which have simplicity, but inside are complex stories, revealed deliberately with a raw openness. A sort of psychoanalytic therapy in some way.”

His photographs have been featured in numerous 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.

CATALOGUES

ESCAPING THE FACE (2017)
A KIND OF ABSENCE (2015)
HOME BY THE SEA (2009)