Hanna Putz

Austrian photographer Hanna Putz was born in Vienna in 1987. She worked as an international model for some years before deciding to devote herself entirely to photography in 2009. Without a formal education in photography, Putz gained global recognition and has already been showcased in the prominent publications Zeit Magazin, Dazed&Confused, HUSK, New York Magazine, amongst many others.

With a sensitive eye for photographic composition and a natural penchant for the tender realities of everyday life, Putz’ photographs shed light on the relation between person and camera, alluding to the fragile play of identity and performativity. Her works are imbued with honesty and express a profound understanding of the subtle nature of self-presentation. In front of her camera, human relationships are intimately unveiled without the violence of transparency. Stripped of their ‘spectacular and noisy’ elements, human beings are allowed to appear in their vulnerable essence.

‘I’m interested in the high demands of self-representation nowadays. Everything is public. Very few things seem to be private anymore.
I try to grasp the substance of a person or to depict a feeling through a composition within an image. Perhaps it is what one could call human nature, traces of which can sometimes find their way into a photograph. A sense of closeness to oneself, for oneself rather than
for someone else.’

Putz’ evocative work no doubt unsettles the borders between fine art and fashion photography, private and public, rendering it hard to define or categorise her work. Presently based in Vienna and London, Putz travels extensively and continues to develop her knowledge as a lecturer in photography at the University of Art and Design in Linz, Austria.

Her photographs have been exhibited in Europe as well as in the US, and in 2012 she was selected as one of the ten finalists at the Hyères Contemporary Photography Prize in France and also shortlisted for the 1000 Words Photography Award 2012 in London.

hannaputz.com