Jens Schwarz

Jens Schwarz (Born 1968) is a German documentary photographer, filmmaker and educator.
== Life and career ==
Schwarz grew up in East Berlin, from where his mother fled with him to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1976 when he was eight years old. After graduating from high school in Munich, he studied art history in Paris (1990-91) and Munich (1991-94), and then attended the State Academy for Photo Design located there (1994-97). After receiving his degree, as a freelance photographer during three years he primarily worked for the weekly magazine supplement (SZ-Magazin) of the Munich-based :Süddeutsche Zeitung , and subsequently for a variety of other German and international publications. He worked on documentary photography commissions on topics such as ecology, human rights and migration in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. His photographs appeared in The Guardian, CNN, The New York Times, Vice, Greenpeace Magazin, Monocle, Geo, Stern, brand eins, Die Zeit and Der Spiegel.
From 2007 to 2009, Schwarz studied political science and sociology at the :Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. In the following years, he increasingly devoted himself to political topics within his photographic work in a research-based approach.
In 2019, he was co-curator of FOTODOKS - Festival for Documentary Photography in Munich.
In the same year, Jens Schwarz was a guest lecturer and in 2020 an associate lecturer for documentary photography at the :Munich University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Design. In collaboration with students, the online platform Dok12 was created there under his direction.
As part of a post-graduate program, he earned a Master’s Degree (Distinction) in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography at the :London College of Communication, :University of the Arts London in 2021.
Since 2021, Schwarz has also been developing his own mentoring formats in the field of documentary photography, including conducting a workshop in Tirana, Albania, in cooperation with the Goethe-Institut.
Schwarz has an adult daughter and lives in Munich, Germany.
== Works ==
In his artistic documentary practice, Jens Schwarz deals multi-disciplinarily with anthropological and sociological topics in self-initiated projects relating to questions of social identity and political ideology.
 
In 2014, his first monograph Beirut Eight Thirteen was published as a long-term photographic project on questions of social identity and political instability in Beirut, and exhibited in the same year at the Sammlung Fotografie, Stadtmuseum München, Germany. 
In 2017-18, Themmuns evolved as a comprehensive book project and interactive website on youth in Northern Ireland, again looking at social identity and division within the young generation after the Brexit Referendum. The work was nominated for and won numerous international awards. It has been shown at photography festivals throughout the world including Format (UK), Photo:Israel and the Rencontres d'Arles (France).
In 2019 Displaced, a comprehensive multimedia work on refugee migration in Germany, was presented in a solo exhibition at the :Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
In 2019-20, Schwarz created Blue Donkey & Red Elephant, a multi-disciplinary documentary project on the dichotomy of political identities within American society. It was published online as a multimedia website and shown in a solo exhibition with video installations and photographs at Amerikahaus München, Germany, in 2020. The following year it was developed into a feature length documentary essay film. The work also became part of Reporters Without Borders German section’s yearbook Fotos für die Pressefreiheit 2021 as a portfolio presentation.
Shortly before the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Schwarz started A Letter to Jenna, an extensive ongoing project on the topic of disinformation, containing video, photographs and archival materials, with work stays in Kyiv and Mariupol, Ukraine, and further international settings.
The exploration of questions about post-factual narratives, as well as political ideologies behind them and their social consequences, is a prevailing theme in Schwarz’ artistic documentary practice. His last three major projects (Themmuns, Blue Donkey & Red Elephant, A Letter to Jenna) can be seen as a trilogy focussing on different case studies, characterized by so called ‘post-truth politics’.
==Solo and group exhibitions (s/g)==
*2022	A Letter to Jenna – Mariupol (screening), Microscope Gallery, New York, USA 
*2022	A Letter to Jenna (g), Inland collective pop-up show room, Arles, France
*2021	Blue Donkey & Red Elephant (g), Well Gallery, LCC, London, UK
*2020	Blue Donkey & Red Elephant(s), Amerikahaus, Munich, Germany 
*2019	Displaced(s), Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, USA 
*2019	Themmuns (g), Ilham Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
*2019	Themmuns(g), Format International Photography Festival, Derby, UK 
*2019	Themmuns (book-presentation), PhotoIreland, Dublin, Ireland
*2019	Themmuns (screening), Riga Photomonth, Riga, Latvia
*2019	Themmuns (g), Head On Photo Festival, Sydney, Australia 
*2019	Themmuns (g), Grenze – Arsenali Fotografici, Verona, Italy 
*2018	Themmuns (screening), Les Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France 
*2018	Themmuns (g), Photo Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel 
*2018	Themmuns (screening), Getxophoto International Image Festival, Getxo, Basque Country
*2018	Themmuns (book-presentation), Preus National Museum of Photography, Horten, Norway
*2017	Mleeta – Hezbollah theme park (installation), Der Greif – Panama Plus, Munich, Germany
*2015	Rec by (g), EasyUpstream gallery, Munich, Germany
*2015	Displaced (pop-up exhibition), Lost Weekend, Munich, Germany
*2014	Beirut Eight Thirteen (s), Sammlung Fotografie, Stadtmuseum, Munich, Germany
*2012	Ping / Pong (g), Kunstraum, Munich, Germany
*2009	Beirut Zero Eight (g), Kunsthalle Lothringer13 – Förderpreise 2009, Munich, Germany 
*2005	Beweg’ dich, dann bewegt sich was (photo-installation), QUIVID-Arts program, Munich, Germany
== Awards and grants ==
*2019 Gomma Grant, London, UK, Best Color Picture, winner, Themmuns 
*2019 Unseen Dummy Award, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, shortlist Themmuns 
*2019 Kuala Lumpur International Portrait Photography Prize, Malaysia, finalist Themmuns
*2019 PHmuseum Photography Grant, London, UK, shortlist Themmuns
*2018 Luma Rencontres Dummy Book Award Arles 2018, France, finalist Themmuns 
*2018 Meitar Award, Tel Aviv, Israel, finalist, Themmuns 
*2018 Photobook Week Aarhus Dummy Award, Denmark, top-3-finalist, Themmuns
*2018 Direct Look photo contest, Moscow, Russia, finalist Themmuns
*2017 VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; project grant Themmuns – Youth in Northern Ireland
*2012 Henri Nannen Preis; shortlist best photo-reportage; Die innere Unsicherheit – Bilder aus Beirut
*2009 VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn; project grant Beirut Eight Thirteen
*2009 Photography Prize of the city of Munich – nomination; Beirut Zero Eight (exhibition)
== Publications ==
*Displaced – Migration into Germany. Cincinnati: Contemporary Arts Center, Ohio, USA, 2019
*Themmuns. Munich: self published, 2018
*Beirut Eight Thirteen. Munich: Book with a Beard, 2014, ISBN 978-3-00-046164-4
Category:1968 births
Category:German photographers
Category:German filmmakers