MICHAEL KERSTGENS. OUT OF CONTROL

Michael Kerstgens grew up in Mülheim a.d. Ruhr and became known for his photographs of the British miners’ strike of 1984/85. It was here that he lived with a family of strikers, which influenced his photographic development and his own outlook on society. Moving into professional photography at the same time, Kerstgens worked as a photographer with artists from the North Rhine-Westphalian cultural scene. In 1987 he photographed the steelworkers’ strike in Duisburg- Rheinhausen and in 1990 the changes in the Thuringian town of Mühlhausen in the run-up to German reunification. The transformation of the landscape through industrial, economic or environmental influences also plays a major role in Michael Kerstgens’ photographs.

As a freelance photographer, Michael Kerstgens worked internationally in the magazine and corporate fields before devoting himself to teaching. After academic assignments in Frisia and Dessau, he has been Professor of Photography at University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt since 2007.