After being based for 24 years in Beijing, Katharina Hesse currently shares her time between Germany, Hongkong and China. Her work primarily focuses on China’s social concerns among them youth and urban culture, religion and North Korean refugees. Ms. Hesse has traveled on assignment to Indonesia, Mongolia, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Korea and the Philippines. Ms Hesse is fluent in Chinese, English, French and German.
Ms. Hesse initially came to China as a scholarship student intending to research for a graduate degree in Chinese studies at Peking University.
She began her work in Asia as an assistant for German television (ZDF). In 1994 she started working in Newsweek’s Beijing bureau as an apprentee and over the period of 8 years became a contributor participating in numerous cover projects. Her interest in photography evolved early during ther stay at Newsweek.
After 2003 Hesse started her career as a freelance photographer represented by Getty images. Currently she is represented by Laif.
Since 2014 she has been contributing to "everydayclimatechange"s instagram feed.
Publications :
Capital magazin, Courrier International, Der Spiegel, D della Repubblica, EYEmazing, FT Magazine, Financial Times, Zeit Magazin, Glamour (Germany), IO Donna, Die Zeit, Marie-Claire, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Le Monde 2, Manager Magazin (Germany) , Neon, Ode Pez, Reporters without borders, Stern, Time Asia, Vanity Fair (Italy & Germany) and Wired (Italy).
Monographs :
-"Human Negotiations", Katharina Hesse & Lara Day
Three Shadows Publishing, 2011, China
Contributions :
"Culture Scapes China "
Text : Dokumentarfotografie u. Fotojournalismus in China
Photo essay : Momentaufnahmen
Christoph Merian Verlag, 2010, Switzerland
Exhibitions :
2014 :
-March 16-Aug. 18, 2014 : Invisible Migrations, Alice Austen House, NY, USA
2013 :
-Moving Walls 20, Open Society, NY, USA
-DokFoto, Oslo, Norway
2011 : "Human Negotiations", Three Shadows photography Art Centre, Beijing, China
2010:
- "Arles in Beijing " (Caochangdi Photo spring), April 17-21, 2010, China
-" LAND- country life in the urban age", Noorderlicht Fotofestival, Sept- Oct. 2010, The Netherlands
-" One Step forward, two steps back", SKUK Gallery, Ljubljana, ( International Festival of Contemporary Arts), 2010, Slovenia
-8th Art Festival, Aleppo, Oct.6-17, 2010, Syria
2009:
-Noorderlicht Fotogalerie “Summer of Love”, July-August 2009
-Chobi Mela V, Bangladesh 2009;
-Noorderlicht Fotofestival; “Pursuit of Happiness”, September 2009, The Netherlands.
2007: Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography,2007;
2006: Angkor Photo Festival, Cambodia;
2002: Visa Pour l’Image, Perpignan, France
Awards :
NPPA 2003 : Portraits & personality 1st prize
NPPA 2009: Portraits & personality 1st prize
Corporate clients:
Audi
Siemens
Sony
Deutsche Bank
Credit Suisse
The Gap
The Discovery Channel
The History Channel
Intel
North Face