shashasha

Following decades of award-winning photography work which offered primarily critical observations of the various intersections between technology and human activities, the late Michael Wolf’s last photobook “Cheung Chau Sunrises,” published by Buchkunst Berlin, represents an entirely new direction within the creative work of the German photographer.

From his home on the island of Cheung Chau in Hong Kong, Michael Wolf photographed the sun as it rises over the bay of Hong Kong, every morning, between 5.30 and 7.30 AM, for the past two years. Over time, the series took on a conceptual element—the photographs, which appear almost painting-like, take on a symbolic meaning and act as a counterpoint to the constriction, the conformity, the smog, the claustrophobia that are synonymous with Hong Kong and other megacities like it. Wolf’s photographs (80 images on 104 pages) make use of “the pencil of nature” to paint daily, fleeting spectacles, changing minute by minute.

“In the socially critical oeuvre of Michael Wolf, these pictures also serve as a blueprint for freedom and transform his photography into a dimension of painting.” (from the publisher’s description)

Michael Wolf passed away in his home on Cheung Chau in April 2019.