Under the title #SHOTBYADAMS, the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt presents selected works from the impressive photographic oeuvre of Bryan Adams through June 21st. The works come from four of the photographer's most celebrated series: #SHOTBYADAMS, WOUNDED: THE LEGACY OF WAR, HOMELESS, and IN COLOUR.

Alongside his success as a singer and songwriter, Bryan Adams has built a remarkably confident career as a photographer since the 1990s, earning multiple distinctions for his work. In the #SHOTBYADAMS series, he has directed numerous friends, celebrities, and superstars as his subjects, including Julianne Moore, Sir Ben Kingsley, Amy Winehouse, and Sir Mick Jagger. It is remarkable how Bryan Adams commands these portrait sessions. His eye misses nothing. The subjects reveal themselves to him in often self-assured poses, completely in their element. They leave no doubt that they thoroughly enjoyed the photo sessions.

Yet Bryan Adams is far more than a photographer of celebrities from the glamorous world of entertainment. He also dedicates himself to real life stories and the challenges of our present time. A powerful example is the series WOUNDED: THE LEGACY OF WAR. It documents young British soldiers who have returned from deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq with amputated limbs, prosthetics, and burn scars. The subjects gaze with dignity into his camera. They are marked by the consequences of military service that radically transformed their lives.

With the series HOMELESS, Bryan Adams turns his lens to those living on society's margins: his portraits depict people without fixed housing in London who sell the homeless magazine "The Big Issue." With compassion and respect, he brings their difficult circumstances to light while simultaneously emphasizing the invaluable worth of each individual. In the series IN COLOUR, Bryan Adams has expanded selected portraits with an artistic dimension. By combining the photographs with individually calibrated color tones printed on plexiglass through a sophisticated process, he imparts an additional aesthetic and atmospheric layer to the images. With the exhibition #SHOTBYADAMS, the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt continues its series of photography exhibitions launched in 2021. Following Peter Lindbergh, Walter Schels, and Candida Höfer, Bryan Adams is now the fourth significant photographer whose outstanding work can be admired in Darmstadt. The exhibition is presented through a collaboration between Crossover and the Hessian State Museum Darmstadt. Curators: Anke Degenhard and Mat Humphrey

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