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Heiko Hellwig
BIOGRAPHY
Heiko Hellwig, born in Wuppertal in 1960, lives and works as a freelance photographer and photo artist in Costa Rica. For many years he worked for large companies and corporations such as BMW, Bosch and Lufthansa. But he has also published in international magazines such as Penthouse, Focus, Vogue or Wired. From 1998 to 2001 he was a lecturer for photography at the Haller Akademie der Künste in Schwäbisch Hall. Since then he has devoted himself to free artistic projects, many of which are conceptual series with a socio-critical impulse. Heiko Hellwig's works are exhibited nationally and internationally and are represented in various private collections. Many of his photographs have won several international awards.
"I discovered the magic of photography at the age of six, for it allowed me to visually capture an instant of the real world. Even more amazing for me was, and still is, the fact that photographs can reveal much more than just appearances: the attentive observer can always perceive other layers or levels in them. Levels that today I can render visible and present to experience thanks to various photographic techniques. This heightened visibility is not always just esthetic, but always more exciting, for it tries to penetrate the surfaces of the real world and invite beholders to reflect. My work is largely inspired by the Bauhaus artists Oskar Schlemmer and Lyonel Feininger."
THE INTERVIEW
How do you situate your photographic practice within your broader artistic or conceptual framework?
It is always difficult to view yourself from the outside. From the age of eight, I have been deeply addicted to photography - I even demanded a camera from my parents back then. I only defined myself as an artist later. Of course, I also painted, created design concepts, and studied architecture, but photography has always been and will always be my preferred way of expressing myself.
When I say “photography,” I mean it in its original sense: photo is light and graph is picture, from ancient Greece. So I tend to describe myself as a light seeker or light painter. My art is fuelled entirely by pure light.
How does your creative process evolve from the first idea to the final images?
I am the son of an engineer. I learned very early from him to make plans - plans to avoid flaws and to ensure the product you want matches what you imagined in the beginning. Thus, my early career was as an advertising photographer in the studio. We received detailed layouts and plans from clients and followed them as closely as possible. Later, however, I learned to start with just a dream - a foggy idea in the distance - and follow all the feelings and emotions that arise along the chosen path. And to listen to them. My work lost some of its stiffness, and of course some perfection, but it gained emotion and feeling instead.
Which emotional states or ideas do you consider central to the viewer’s experience of your work?
For me, the second sight is the most important. You have only a fraction of a second to capture the viewer’s interest. But if you get that fraction, you have to give them a little more than what they saw at first glance. For me, it is important to give the viewer or beholder a question: Who is in the picture? What is in the picture? Where does the light come from? From what angle? And so on. You might say that irritation is the key - not fulfilling or repeating what has already been seen.
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