Location: Canada
Eric Klemm (b.1939) lives and works on Salt Spring Island near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He first studied graphic design in Trier, Germany, and turned seriously to photography in 1968 when he became affiliated with the legendary German magazine TWEN. Klemm contributed to top magazines as: Stern, Zeit Magazin, the German edition of Playboy, LUI, France and many others. In 1972 he became a member of the prestigious Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Photographie (DGPh).
Klemm has his work in private and corporate collections in Germany, Switzerland, Canada, the USA and international public galleries and museums as: the Portland Art Museum, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Saarland-Museum, Saarbruecken, Germany, to name only a few.
Eric Klemm's work has been exhibited widely in more than 25 international solo and numerous group exhibitions, including featured solo shows at the 2006 FotoFest Biennial in Houston, Texas, the 2006 Foto&Photo Photography Festival Cesano Maderno, Milan, Italy, and the 2008 CONTACT Toronto Photography Festival.
Eric Klemm's break through came in 2009, when the prestigious publishing house Steidl, Goettingen, Germany, launched his book Silent Warriors - Portraits of North American Indians. The project was awarded 1st prize at Prix de la Photographie Paris.
His series Metamorphosis has recently been exhibited in Berlin and Paris and became a travelling exhibition visiting French cities as: Brest, Nancy, Bordeaux, Lille, and Toulouse. Klemm's latest project Italian Journey (travelling in the footsteps of the German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) was awarded 1st prize Landscape Portfolio at The Worldwide 2010 Annual Pollux Awards.
Silent Warriors
Eric Klemm is picking up the thread where Edward Curtis ended, but now, nearly one hundred years later there are no more "Great Warriors", their place taken by ordinary people who refused to give up. Because of the devastation of the North American Indian people and their culture, the mere act of surviving, no matter how desperate the personal or communal conditions, was transformed into a heroic one. Just not dying meant the chance to repopulate and give birth to a future.
"My project is to photograph three hundred portraits of men, women and children in a style that is contemporary, straight forward, and vital. Wherever I meet them, passing on the street, at a ceremony or dancing event, I am photographing them immediately - to capture that moment, just after the eyes meet, that moment while the recognition and acknowledgment of a shared humanity is still in our eyes before the guardedness of difference darkens it. Through the face of the North American Indian I am looking for a reflection of the entire human condition."
Josephine Dvorken, a Magnum photographer who looked at Klemm's photographs at a portfolio review in New York recently wrote in an E-mail: "you have captured a mysterious sadness that I never completely understood but recognize as deep truth".
Gary Michael Dault, senior art critic of The Globe & Mail, Toronto, calls Eric Klemm's photographs: "startling, forceful, dramatic yet respectful, searching, troubling, brilliantly and inescapably memorable".
The Silent Warriors series was Awarded 1st prize Portrait/Culture at PX3, Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2007, and 2dn prize Fine Art/Portrait at International Photography Awards/Lucie Awards, 2007, Los Angeles. One of Klemm's Award winning images has been selected for the 2007 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
“Micki, Comanche/Cherokee”
“Kasey, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma”
“Kasey #2, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma”
“Linda, Haudenasaune/Seneca”
“Whitewolfe, Cherokee/Wolf Clan”
“Robert, Tewa”
“Robert #2, Tewa”
“Clifford, Mohawk”
“Little Man, Aztec”
“Marvin, Tewa”
“Felix, Taino Nation”
“Passing Rain, Zuni/Tewa”
“Passing Rain #2, Zuni/Tewa”
“Alexander, Tewa”
“Anthony, Tewa”
“Marin, Tewa”
“Darren, Choctaw”
“Benny, Tewa”
“Charmaine, Cree”
“Harvey, Esketemc”
“Virginia, Sechelt”
“Mike, Canoe Creek/Shuswap”
“Ralph, Upper Nicola/Spaxomin”
“Sonny, Cherokee”
