SHORT BIO
I´m a freelance photographer, based in Salzburg, Austria. I studied painting and art education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, Austria. I have taught in my professional years as an arts, crafts and media teacher. For a couple of years I held a lectureship for media didactics at the Mozarteum University of Art, Salzburg. In parallel I have been developing my own photographic projects. My photographic education was self-taught and deepened in several workshops at Galerie Fotohof, Salzburg, as well as in the MasterClass at Galerie Anzenberger, Vienna.
My current photographic work deals with people in their living and working environment and revolves around the question of the extent to which social and economic changes affect the lives of individuals. Another focus of my photography is the critical inventory of the structural change of urban peripheries and rural regions as well as social and humanitarian issues such as migration and homelessness.
I have shown my photographic work in recent years in group and solo exhibitions in Salzburg and Vienna, Austria, as well as in Bologna, Italy.
PROPOSED WORK
Already last year I had the opportunity for a very inspiring artist residency at Björkö Konstnod. My focus at that time was a photodocumentary research about the residents of Björkö, who live on the island most of the year or permanently. I was able to meet a number of people, learned about their lives and their relationship to the island, and was also able to depict their living and working environments.
This time I intend to deepen my work, get to know more people, photograph them in their surroundings and interview them about themselves and their lives on Björkö. I want them to take me on their walks and tell me their personal stories about the places.
Thus, parallel to the photo series, a text will also be created and eventually a photoessay with an audiotrack.
www.instagram.com/gerhard_kowald
Studio: 5
Dates: October 2-31
