Lost Youths

The Von der Heydt Kunsthalle in Wuppertal, Germany, currently presents the exhibition Haus der Jugend with new photographs by Tobias Zielony. The show continues until 14 January 2018.

Photographer and film maker Tobias Zielony (born 1973) was among the five artists to be represented in the German Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2015. Known for a visual style that veers between documentary and fine-art photography, he has been classed as a successor of great masters such as Larry Clark, Nan Goldin and Wolfgang Tillmans. 


Zielony likes to work in exactly those places we tend to exclude from our collective social awareness. Very often it is young people from these environments who become visible to the public, as they seek out confrontation in their struggle for confidence and a sense of self. These are the people Zielony accompanies with his camera – teenagers on the outskirts of Bristol, in the housing developments of Halle, Chemnitz, Marseille and Rome, or in the surreal desolation of Trona outside of Los Angeles.

This exhibition introduces the photographer’s latest project, titled Maskirovka. Created in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, the series revolves around the city’s techno and gay scene, and the reverberations of the revolution of 2013. The term Maskirovka describes a Russian method of secret warfare and military deception. Indeed, masks seem to play an important role in contemporary Ukraine: from gas masks on the Maidan to hooded special forces in Crimea – and as expressions of sexual identity within the country’s techno scene.

For further information visit Von der Heydt-Kunsthalle