Wolfgang Tillmans, the German-born artist and photographer whose work has profoundly shaped contemporary photography over the past three decades, is renowned for his intimate portraits of youth culture, sexuality, explorations of identity and community, and evocative still-life compositions. Born in Remscheid, Germany, in 1968, Tillmans first gained recognition in the early 1990s for his candid photographs documenting youth, club culture and everyday life, before expanding his practice into abstraction, installation, video, sound and experimental approaches to the photographic image.

After studying at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design in the UK, he became a defining voice in contemporary photography, capturing the social and cultural shifts of the 1990s. In 2000, he made history as the first photographer and first non-British artist to receive the Turner Prize. He has since received numerous international accolades, including the prestigious Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography in 2015.

Now named the recipient of this year’s Prix Henri Cartier-Bresson pour l’ensemble de l’œuvre, Tillmans reflects on the relationship between photography and his wider artistic practice, which encompasses installation, sound and video:

“Even though I work in the larger field of contemporary art and my practice spans from installation to sound to video, it is almost always touching and centred around the lens, and photography is really at the heart of what I do.” His work is featured in numerous collecctions around the world.

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Image: Wolfgang Tillmans, Frank, in the shower, 2015. Courtesy of the artist, David Zwirner and Maureen Paley.