[...] Michael Ullrich is a Homo empathicus. Unlike Walter Faber1, he allows himself to be touched by the world; he does not retreat into that zone of invisibility that the one-dimensional vector of a photographic gaze might afford (namely, behind the camera). On the contrary, his photographic perspective is full of respect, in the sense of the Latin respectare: to look back. One might almost call it a sensitive gaze, but not in the romantic sense. Rather, it reflects an ability for empathy that manifests in Ullrich’s images without dissolving into a superficial or attention-seeking stylistic device, let alone a signature style. It is, in a way, a photography of connectedness.
by Dr. Lars Blunck
Michael Ullrich (born 1988) is a German artist, photographer and musician who expresses himself through a very intimate and direct point of view. He studied photography at the Nuremberg Academy of Fine Arts as a master student of Jürgen Teller, where he also completed his diploma in graphic design in the class of Holger Felten and Friederike Girst. He also attended the classes of Robert Voit, Martin Fengel and Heike Baranowksi. Inspired by music, art and pop culture, Michael finds his own way of combining different genres to simultaneously express rawness and hidden beauty in his work. He explores the various social and scientific uses of photography, video, painting and music. His work takes both an experimental and analytical approach to the medium, using various techniques and media to find a mix between genres in both the applied and artistic frameworks. His work has been presented in numerous galleries, museums, magazines and institutions.